Two bills in the
North Carolina General Assembly that would allow parents to abandon babies are being considered in policy committees this week.
Senate Bill 1257, sponsored by
Sen. William Martin, D-Greensboro, would allow baby abandonment as long as the child is left with specified government or health care workers or “any other adult of suitable discretion.” The bill is in a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is scheduled to meet today. Its companion measure,
House Bill 1616, by
Rep. R. Phillip Haire, D-Sylva, may be heard Thursday in the House Judiciary Committee.
North Carolina Sen. William Martin, D-Greensboro |
The twin measures state: “No parent shall be prosecuted for abandonment of an infant less than 15 days of age when that parent voluntarily delivers the infant to one of the following individuals:
- A health care provider at a hospital or at a local or district health department.
- A law enforcement officer at a police station or sheriff’s department.
- A social services worker at a local department of social services.
- An emergency medical technician at a fire station.
- Any other adult of suitable discretion who willingly accepts the infant.
Any recipient of an abandoned baby must report to the Department of Social Services, which will then begin custody proceedings.”
Sen. Robert Carpenter, a co-sponsor of the senate bill, told the
Asheville Tribune the “other adult” provision of the bill “is being refined to make that clearer because we don’t want to open up the door to allow someone to start a baby racket. We’re talking about a grandmother, aunt, uncle, so on and so forth.”
While opposition to the concept of legalized child abandonment exists, critics are overshadowed by the growing list of supporters of such legislation, which includes famed radio-advice guru
Dr. Laura
Schlessinger. As reports of dead babies found in trash bins increase, the national trend to pass such measures is growing.
“I hope the legislature will act favorably on this bill, because there is no problem or difficulty with it that is as important as keeping babies out of ditches and garbage cans and toilets,” said Tom Bennett, executive director of
North Carolina’s Child Fatality Task
Force — an advisory panel to the state legislature.
“Every year we have one to four dead, abandoned babies discovered, and we don’t know how many others are out there that were left to die and will never be found. We’ve got to do something to try to stop this,” Bennett told WorldNetDaily.
Pam Deardorff, a member of the task force, noted there were 22 dead, abandoned babies reported over a 10-year period.
Opponents fear fathers’ rights are being ignored by the proposals, since mothers may anonymously relinquish custody. In many cases, the father does not even know about the child. As a result, Haire has considered amending his bill to include paternal notification provisions.
Bennett believes a notification provision is unnecessary, since social services must currently make good-faith efforts to find fathers during custody proceedings.
Deardorff agreed, saying, “There’s been so much discussion about the rights of the parent, but the task force felt that the overriding concern was the safety and protection of the child. We felt it was important to … recommend this piece of legislation.”
Bennett also discounted arguments that the bills would promote irresponsible sexual behavior. People would not change their sexual behavior as a result of legalized child abandonment, he reasoned.
“Nobody thinks like that,” he said.
The task force leader also questions Carpenter’s statement regarding “baby rackets,” saying baby racketeers are not “responsible adults.” Additionally, current law prohibits baby-selling.
“You cannot sell your baby — you can’t do it now; you can’t do it under this bill,” Bennett explained.
The bills include appropriations of $150,000 for a public information campaign, but, should one pass, the allocation will be removed due to tight budget constraints.
“There are so many mechanisms that even without the money, I believe there are ways we could spread the word (of a new legalized abandonment law)” Deardorff said.
The state already provides a “standard board rate” of $315 per month as well as Medicaid to children from birth to age 5 who are under Department of Social Services custody.
“The children perhaps could be placed with relatives,” she continued. “It may or may not be a substantial cost increase.” She hopes “the regular process of placing children through social services” will result in most children being placed with family members. The bill, however, allows parents to turn in their children anonymously, so it is unclear how babies’ relatives might be identified in those cases.
Haire believes his bill will result in more adoptions.
North Carolina Rep. R. Phillip Haire, D-Sylva |
“There’s a shortage of babies for adoption in this country. There are people going to foreign countries to adopt children,” he said. “The purpose of this bill is to save the lives of babies. Once we do that, it would increase the availability of babies for adoption in this country.”
While recognizing the benefits of foreign adoption — American couples adopting children from other countries — Haire says the enormous expense associated with it often precludes families with average or below average incomes from adopting.
“Only the more affluent people can afford to do that,” he said.
North Carolina is the latest in a growing number of states to consider legalized abandonment policies. Alabama, Minnesota, Georgia, Texas and West Virginia have all enacted such laws, while California and New York are considering such measures.
“I think we might learn something from [other states],” added Haire.
Planned Parenthood supports “safe surrender legislation,” but believes the policy “fails to address the underlying issue, which is unintended pregnancy,” said Kay Michaels, spokeswoman for
Planned
Parenthood of Orange and Durham counties in North Carolina.
Michaels’ organization supports “better access to family planning and medically accurate sex education” so that women “don’t find themselves in these tragic situations,” she told WND.
Haire indicated end-of-session budget negotiations could hold up consideration of the bills, despite scheduled meetings of their respective committees. Legislators are scrambling to wrap up the 2000 session in coming weeks. However, should his bill not be considered this year by the part-time legislature, Haire will reintroduce the measure for the 2001 session.
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