In: Nursing
Your neighbor's 18 year old unmarried daughter has
just given birth to a baby boy. The neighbor is concerned that
neither she, nor her daughter, can take care of the baby. She asks
you what you can suggest that she do.
What is the Safe Haven law and can you tell her about
it?
Safe Haven law , also known as baby moses law or safe surrender law helps the parents to surrender their unwanted babies anonymously to take care to some one to a designated location . Approved safe haven locations usually hospitals ,EMS agencies ,fire or police stations and ,other public health organisations .The laws may different from state to state.
There are certain principles for this procedure. First and foremost is the baby should be unharmed . It means baby is in good good health and free from all abuse and illness Before receiving they will check and confirm the initial health of the child.Encourage parents to provide any known medical information. Some of them are seeking medical history of the mother,womens shelter and substance abuse so on.
The next step is transport the baby to the respective place. From there the department of child and family services made adequate transportation facilities. In some places baby boxes are installed at fire and EMS agencies ,once the mother has opened the box a silent alarm alerts emergency staff inside The box is safe for the baby and once it is closed it can be opened only the officers . The systems are different in state ro state.
Most of the state accept the age limit of the baby is 72 hours and older.some states they accept above one month of age.
Safe haven providers will do any emergency management for their custody babies and all medical care they needs.
Other interesting question is ...whether the mother or parent can get back a baby?...once the baby is endorsed to safe haven the parent would not get it back.
Explained everything to them and they are accepted all the conditions then encourage them to give the child to safe haven .