By Robert Kittle
A mother is accused of putting her newborn baby girl in a dumpster in Horry County, even though South Carolina has a law that would have allowed her to leave the baby anonymously at a safe haven and not face any legal problems. The baby was found Thursday. According to the state Department of Social Services, the baby is doing well at a local hospital.
The mother turned herself in to police after seeing her photo on the news. She’s also in a local hospital and will be charged after she’s released.
Under Daniel’s Law, which took effect in 2000, a person who abandons a newborn can’t be prosecuted if he or she takes the baby, unharmed, to staff or an employee of a safe haven. Those are a hospital or hospital outpatient facility, law enforcement agencies, fire stations, EMS stations, or houses of worship during times when staff members are there.
The baby can be up to 30 days old. If the baby has been harmed in some way, the immunity from prosecution may not apply. The person leaving the baby will be asked for medical information about the baby’s parents, if possible, so medical personnel will know about any possible health problems. But the person leaving the baby does not have to reveal his or her identity.
Dr. Ravi Rao, a neonatologist with Pediatrix Medical Group at Palmetto Health Richland in Columbia, has treated a baby that was abandoned. “The two big problems with these babies are usually related to their temperature and to their sugar levels, and they’re both dangerous. So the first thing we do as part of the vitals is we take their temperature,” he says.
He can’t remember when or where the baby he treated was abandoned, but he remembers how he felt. “It’s obviously disheartening and it’s extremely tragic. Obviously, most physicians are also parents too and you think about your child.”
He says because a baby abandoned under Daniel’s Law is going to get medical attention right away, that could be critical between the baby surviving and not making it.
The law was named after baby “Daniel”, whose teen mother never told her parents she was pregnant. After she gave birth, she didn’t know what to do and buried the baby. He miraculously survived, and his case prompted state lawmakers to pass the safe haven law which they named after him.
DSS says 25 babies have been left at safe havens in the 15 years the law’s been in place. The agency doesn’t keep track of how many babies have been abandoned illegally.
