Women work to ensure safe place for newborns

Published 9:00 pm Monday, February 26, 2007

There is a safe way to turn a heartbreaking situation into something positive, but it’s hard to get the news into the right hands.

How do we let young parents know there is a legal way to give up their newborns? Thanks to two Bothell women, word is spreading.

Registered nurses Virginia Pfalzer and Joan Dedman are president and vice president of Safe Place for Newborns of Washington. They brought the program to Washington state.

It’s sad that such an organization has to exist, but there is a need. For instance, on Jan. 28, an infant was found on the steps of Immaculate Conception Church in Mount Vernon.

The baby boy was less than 24 hours old. The steps of a church are not a good place to abandon a baby, Pfalzer said. It’s not warm and no one may be there. The frightened 17-year-old mother, found later, was lucky that someone discovered her newborn alive.

In April 2002, Gov. Gary Locke signed into law the Newborn Safety Act, which provides that a parent may leave an unharmed newborn, up to 3 days old, at a hospital or staffed fire station without fear of prosecution.

Before they brought the Safe Newborn program to Washington, Pfalzer and Dedman chatted casually about an abandoned baby they heard about in the news. They became passionate about the topic and testified in Olympia.

“We got very into it,” Dedman said. “It’s like full time.”

The mothers knew that a newborn baby is a joy to most parents. But to a desperate young mother, a newborn might be something to fear, fear that could be strong enough to result in abandonment in an unsafe place, Pfalzer said.

Pfalzer said 11 babies have been safely left at hospitals or fire stations in the Puget Sound area since the program started.

The crisis line can also provide the mother with information about where she can receive free prenatal care before the child is born, Pfalzer said.

Here are some tips for mothers or fathers who decide to give up their newborn baby within three days of birth.

When leaving a newborn at a hospital or staffed fire station, make sure the recipient is an employee or volunteer, preferably wearing a name badge.

Tell them you want to leave your baby with Safe Place for Newborns. You can’t leave the newborn in the bathroom or lobby. You have to give the infant to a person.

Only a parent of the baby can leave the child. The recipient will probably ask you a few questions, but it’s not a trap.

They would like a bit of health history, which is important for the child to have when he or she grows up.

You will be given forms to fill out and send back. The information will not be made public, but will be put in your baby’s records, and may help answer future health questions.

And you will be asked if you named your baby.

The recipient may also offer a packet of information, and explain a few things.

You will also be offered medical care.

The hospital will take care of any medical needs your baby may have, and they will contact Child Protective Services, who will place the baby in foster care.

After a while, your baby will be put up for adoption.

Pfalzer and Dedman work tirelessly to put written materials into schools, teen clubs, low-income clinics, shelters, buses, any place they think a young mother might run across the information.

All this work, and neither woman ever got to snuggle an abandoned baby. They do it just to make sure the newborn lives and finds loving arms.

“It was very exciting the first time a baby was turned in,” Pfalzer said. “She can hand over her baby and walk out.”

And the baby is kept safe.

Columnist Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com.

Safe Place for Newborns offers a round-the-clock crisis line, 877-440-2229. The group’s Web site lists hospital locations where newborns can be left within 72 hours of being born. The Web address is www.safeplacefornewborns.com.

You can help

The nonprofit Safe Place organization is funded by individuals, corporate donations and grants. To make a donation, or for more information, write to Safe Place for Newborns of Washington, Virginia Pfalzer and Joan Dedman, P.O. Box 1864, Bothell, WA 98041-1864.