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Running head: HB1285: PROBLEM DESCRIPTION 0

House Bill 1285: Abandoned Infant – Approved Location Procedure – Reporting Immunity

Defusing the Abusing

Deleted names

University of North Dakota

March 10th, 2020

Introduction

Due to the increase of abandoned babies, not just in North Dakota but nationally, the Safe Haven Law has two purposes, first it ensures that an infant can be given up safely, without being harmed. Second, if the parent follows the legal procedure of surrendering their infant they won’t be prosecuted (Wishnia, 2019).  Advocates maintain that infant abandonment laws will; Reduce the risk that an infant will be discarded in any manner that may cause death; Safeguard parents who feel they have no other option and want to relinquish their infant to a safe haven facility; Offer young women an alternate decision than abandonment; and Provide legislators and the public to study the issue and make programs that include teen pregnancy and prevention curriculum, health services, adoption and other reinforcement programs (Carrubba, 2000).

What is the Nature of the Problem?

The Safe Haven Law was implemented due to the increase of unwanted abandoned infants. Originating in Texas in 1999, “Baby Moses Law” was put into place due to infants being left in unsafe places such as trash cans and isolated public places—some of which resulted in death. Due to this, all fifty states including Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia have enacted the Safe Haven Law in hopes to help unwanted infants and protect them and allow mothers to do so legally without being charged. According to the Abandoned Infants Assistance Resource Center (AIARC), those individuals who abandoned their infants remain silent and isolated during their pregnancy, have no plans put into place as far as birth or caring for the child, and have not received prenatal care throughout their pregnancy.

The AIARC also states that some of the reason’s women choose to kill or abandon their infant are the father being married or in a committed relationship to someone else, rape, too young, or perceiving the child as an obstacle to a personal achievement. Some of these females, according to AIARC, stated that some of the women who leave their babies at the hospital suffer with homelessness, poverty, abusive relationships, HIV, mental illness, and or substance abuse.

How Widespread is it?

International statistics indicate that approximately 30,905 infants were abandoned globally in 1998. Again, the U.S Department of Health and Human Services found that 520,000 infants are within foster care, and 903,395 infants were neglected and abused.

For the last few years, statistics have shown that almost 6 percent of infants are abandoned each year in the United States. The data shows that around 52 percent of male children are neglected compared to 48 percent of female infants. However, most of these infants are found to have been left in health centers by guardians who are unwilling and not able to care for them.

Comparing the number of children abandoned globally and in North Dakota, children who have health issues like mental disabilities and physical disabilities have a higher chance of being abandoned. Ethnicity is also another issue where in North Dakota 1,359 children are abandoned and 427,901 abandoned in the United States. Again, the issue of poverty and lack of housing has resulted in a higher percentage of infant abandonment for individuals who stay in bad social welfare structures.

For instance, many parents are forced to abandon their infants due to the absence of resources that infants require but they are not able to provide (Patrick, 2020). Nevertheless, another percentage results from infants born with congenital diseases which lead to different health issues. That situation forces parents to incur a lot of expenses and later decide to abandon them since they cannot manage their conditions. To prevent this issue from increasing internationally, it is good for the government to help offer parental guidance, community assistance services, and post-natal services to assist caregivers. Education and infant abandonment laws should be implemented to prevent this practice from happening (Popescu, 2017).    

How Many People are Affected by It?

North Dakota does not keep a record on how many times the Safe Haven Law has been used. “Infants who are relinquished are put into the foster care system, but the number of times the law has been used is unknown, because as long as an infant is unharmed, there is no way to track that information,” reports, Marlys Baker, the Child Protective Services administrator for the North Dakota Department of Human Services. There are countless individuals who are affected. Those individuals may range from the infant itself, to the infant’s parents, siblings, employees of the facility (hospital, fire station, law enforcement agencies, and social service agencies), medical personnel who ensure there is no harm done when relinquished, the social worker who responds, and the family that fosters the infant. 

In North Dakota, infant abandonment has raised 35.9 percent since 2015. In the state, three percent of infants are said to be in foster care within five years. In the same year, the infants found to be displaced from their family. Of those families, 47 percent were white, 31 percent were American Indian, 12 percent were from different races, 6 percent were Hispanic, and 4 percent were black. The infants abandoned out of poverty were represented by 14.7 percent. The number of infants who entered the foster care system in North Dakota was 1,037, and in the United States there were 269,499 children.

Despite the struggle to determine the number of children abandoned each year in North Dakota, some percentages seem to be varying depending on the ages of the children. For instance, the percentage of abandoned infants in both nations is higher for children below 1 year old and lower for those below 5 years old (Popescu (2017).

Who is Affected and How?

There are many people that are affected by this policy. A few examples may include the staff at the hospital or facility the child was abandoned at, the siblings, and the larger community. The main group of people that will be discussed are parents of infants that are living in poverty. Being able to provide for yourself financially is tricky when the income is not sufficient enough but incorporating children into the mixture increases the financial burden much more.

Poverty is often a main cause of child abandonment (Child Abandonment, 2020). If the parents are unable to provide adequate care to themselves, they will be unable to do so for their child. According to “Causes – Child Abandonment” (n.d.), “Those who are incapable of supporting themselves because of poverty are much less likely to be able to support a family.” This affects the parents because they may not want to abandon their child but choose to do so because they cannot afford to keep him or her. Also, according to Child Abandonment (2020), “in some cases the parents already have a child or children but are unable to take care of another child at that time.” This also affects the parents because they have to make the difficult decision to keep their other children but abandon the other(s).

According to Ekono et al. (2016), the struggle to raise children on a very small income is not rare among families in the United States, especially those that have young children. The percentage of young children in deep poverty varies across the states, but the percentage specifically in North Dakota is 5 percent. Child Abandonment (2020) discusses that those parents who are not financially capable of taking care of a child are more likely to abandon their children because of a lack of resources” (Child Abandonment, 2020).

Poverty affects the child, as well as the parents. For example, Ekono et al. (2016) states, “A higher percentage of young children in deep poverty have parents who are experiencing poor or fair health or mental health, frequent parenting stress, and a lack of perceived social support and security in the family's neighborhood.” This shows that poverty has a negative effect on the parent’s mental health and well-being.

What are the Causes of the Problem?

The Safe Haven Law was implemented due to the rising increase of unwanted abandoned infants. Parents resort to leaving their newborns in unsafe locations that could lead to death. October 1, 2020, House Bill 1285 will conclude of revised locations for parents to safely surrender their infants without facing legal charges, if the infant is surrendered unharmed. House Bill 1285 re-advisement will also include more safe and secure locations, revised rules and policies will also be more structured and mapped out so the individuals receiving the child will know what to do. Parents have several reasons underlying the cause of surrendering their newborn, once HB1285 is concluded and made more aware to the public it would be more beneficial, consistent, and structured. North Dakota has first implemented this law in 1999 when the first case in North Dakota resulted in death, but it has had inconsistencies with its knowledge to the public causing miscommunications and improper processes

References

Causes - Child Abandonment as a result of Poverty. (n.d.). Retrieved February 29, 2020, from https://sites.google.com/a/s.dcsdk12.org/child-abandonment-as-a-result-of-poverty/causes

Child abandonment. (2020, February 23). Retrieved March 7, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_abandonment

Ekono, M., Jiang, Y., & Smith, S. (2016, January). Young Children in Deep Poverty. Fact Sheet. Retrieved March 8, 2020, from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED578993

Kunkel, K. (2007). Safe-Haven Laws focus on abandoned newborns and their mothers. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 22(5), 397-401.

Patrick Springer, (2020) North Dakota sees boom in child population when much of nation struggles with ‘baby bust’ | The Dickinson Press. Retrieved Jan 7th, 2020, from https://www.thedickinsonpress.com/news/4853019-North-Dakota-sees-boom-in-child-population-when-much-of-nation-struggles-with-%E2%80%98baby-bust%E2%80%99

Popes cu, R. (2017). Alarming Phenomena of Infant Abandonment. http://dx.doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2017.07.03.77

Vobejda, V. (1993). 22,000 babies left in hospitals, study finds : Families: U.S. survey includes those abandoned by parents each year. 75% of those tested had been exposed to drugs. The Washington Post. Retrieved on March 9, 2020 from https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive /politics /1993/11/10/study-finds-22000-boarder-babies-in-us/56d50797-0418-434c-a130-959ad9353963/