Institute Debunks Donaldson Report on Safe Haven Laws
Counter Report: A Discovery Institute Rebuke of New York City Adoption Institute Report on Safe Havens Seven unintended consequences? Claim # 1. The laws encourage "women to conceal pregnancies, then abandon infants who otherwise would have been placed in adoptions through established legal procedures or would have been raised by biological parents or relatives."
Fact # 1. There is no reliable research data about women who have used Safe Haven relinquishment procedures and no way to know whether babies saved through these laws would have been killed or found dead, raised by the mother herself or relatives or placed for adoption.
Claim # 2. The laws create "the opportunity for upset family members, disgruntled boyfriends, or others who have no legal rights, to abandon babies without the birth mothers' consent."
Fact # 2. No such "opportunity" has been taken advantage of to date. Not a single media report has said that a baby has been taken to a Safe Haven without the baby's mother consenting.
Claim # 3. Safe Haven laws induce "abandonment by women who otherwise would not have done so because it seems 'easier' than receiving parenting counseling or making an adoption plan."
Fact # 3. There is no reliable research data about women who have used Safe Haven relinquishment and what their motives may be.
Claim # 4. The laws deprive "biological fathers of their legal right to care for their sons or daughters even if they have the desire and personal resources to do so."
Fact # 4. According to media reports, at least some biological fathers have known about the laws and have participated with the mothers of babies in regard to their newborn infants. Some of these situations have been tragic, as in Virginia, where a father and mother left a baby in Delaware and the baby died, or in Wisconsin, where a father refused to follow the mother's request to take the baby to a Safe Haven and abandoned the baby to die. Some situations have been heart-warming, as was the case with the CT father who took his premature baby to a hospital in MA, thus saving the baby's life.
Claim # 5. Safe Haven laws ensure "that the children who are abandoned can never learn their genealogical or medical histories, even when the consequences for their health are dire."
Fact # 5. No "consequences for their health" could be as "dire" as death, even without genealogical or medical histories. However, some of the Safe Haven laws stipulate ways that biological parents can provide this kind of non-identifying information.
Claim # 6. The laws "preclude the possibility of personal contact and/or the exchange of medical information between birth parents and children in the future."
Fact # 6. Already, there have been relinquishments under Safe Haven laws that make such contacts or exchanges possible, as is obvious from the story in PEOPLE Magazine about the Texas couple who have adopted two babies relinquished by one mother. That mother knows their names and where they live and could establish contact, if and when she wished.
Claim # 7. The laws send "a signal, especially to young people, that they do not have to assume responsibility for their actions and that deserting one's children is acceptable."
Fact # 7. The laws do send a signal, especially to young people, that rather than kill or unsafely abandon their babies, they can save their lives by using Safe Haven relinquishment. The laws also show, as in New York, that many young people will, because of Safe Haven laws, use conventional adoption procedures to relinquish their children, if they feel unable or unwilling to be parents at this time.
Page 1: Background Page 2: Unintended Consequences? Page 3: Missing Elements? Page 4: Minimal Provisions? Related Resources •
Donaldson Study Shows 'Safe Havens' Cause, Don't Solve Problems •
Marley Greiner: A Few Bastardly Thoughts •
Safe Haven Laws & Programs in the U.S. Elsewhere on the Web •
Bastard Nation •
Discovery Institute •
Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute
Home
Add Your Comments!
We want to know what you think. Your comments are important to us and the other readers. You are what makes this site special.