New Parents Thankful for Mass. Safe Haven Law

The Boston Globe: Abandoned to happiness, by Patricia Wen:

Born to a woman unable to cope, baby Jane Doe found new parents who give thanks to mother, Safe Haven law

It was nearing dusk on the first Sunday of last December when a young woman carrying a newborn walked through the automatic sliding doors of Whidden Memorial Hospital in Everett and told a desk clerk in a calm voice: I can’t take care of the baby. I’m leaving her here.

The clerk called the emergency room. Linda Fuller, a veteran secretary, came out first, her heart racing. She knew about the state’s relatively new Safe Haven law, but had never been part of any dropoff.

Without hesitation, the woman, who seemed in her early 20s, handed the infant over to Fuller. She said the baby girl, who had hazel eyes and blond hair and was swaddled in a blue blanket, was less than two days old. Before Fuller could ask more questions, the woman turned and left through the same sliding doors.

“She seemed very resolved,’’ Fuller recalled.

The baby would later be given a tiny ankle hospital bracelet, which read: “Doe, Jane. Homeless.’’

Massachusetts was slow to embrace the idea of anonymous drop-offs for desperate mothers. When it passed the Safe Haven law five years ago, it was the 47th state to adopt such a statute. Critics expressed concerns it would legalize child abandonment, and that these babies would never know their biological origins because no answers were required from parents. On that December day, Baby Jane Doe lost virtually any chance of knowing her past as soon as the woman - referred to legally as the “Unknown Mother’’ - left the hospital. . . .