CT Legislators Want Answers On Case Of Dead Baby In Stamford

STAMFORD, CT — From CT General Assembly: Numerous community members throughout the state are devastated by the news that the body of a baby boy was found at City Carting and Recycling, a Stamford-based trash and recycling facility, Tuesday morning.

The body of the full-term newborn baby was found at 8:40 a.m., October 16, and Stamford Police are currently working to determine where the baby came from, as the recycling and trash facility serves various communities throughout the region.

While Stamford Police have not confirmed the infant’s cause of death, and cannot definitively state whether the infant was abandoned, Connecticut leaders recognize that the state and its residents could be doing more to highlight the safe alternative to what may have transpired this morning.

Connecticut’s Safe Haven law allows birth parents to relinquish custody of an infant within 30 days of birth to a hospital’s emergency department nursing staff without fear of legal prosecution, except in the case of abuse or neglect.

“While the legislature has worked to ensure newborns are protected, we need to do more to ensure young people in Connecticut are aware of this act, and the protections it provides,” said State Representative Jeff Currey (D— East Hartford, Manchester, South Windsor), “During the 2018 legislative session, the act was amended to require that the health curriculum of Connecticut’s high schools include an education of the Safe Haven law. This was done in an effort to ensure our young residents are provided the information for this safe alternative. Recognizing that we could always be doing more, I discussed today’s news with other regional leaders in the area of Safe Haven and look forward to connecting with them to see how we may best move forward with additional outreach and engagement.”

Rep. Currey worked diligently to lead a bipartisan effort to strengthen Connecticut’s safe haven laws during the 2017 legislative session and in 2018 introduced H.B. 5446, which required school boards to teach Safe Haven laws in high schools.

“Connecticut Safe Havens Working Group finds this a very worrisome and tragic discovery today in Stamford. Our efforts to share the message about the law to young people to save newborns and parents from prosecution-reached a new high with the legislation requiring it to be taught in school this year,” said Pam Sawyer, former legislator and coordinator of the Baby Safe Havens Working Group, “We need to educate our population about this great option.”

Image via Shutterstock

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