HARTFORD — Connecticut officials are hoping to promote awareness of a 16-year-old law that was passed to help infant children by designating a day for it.
Monday will mark the first Safe Haven Day, which was created last year by the General Assembly.
The law allows a parent to voluntarily give up custody of an infant 30 days or younger to the nursing staff at a Connecticut emergency room. The parent would not be subject to arrest for abandonment and would be guaranteed anonymity.
The Safe Havens Working Group was created in 2014 after the death of a newborn boy whose mother was unaware of the law.
Many states, including Rhode Island and Massachusetts, have similar laws.
According to the Department of Children and Families, three babies have been handed over at hospital emergency departments already this year: two on January 9 and one on February 22.
Since the Safe Haven Law’s inception 16 years ago, DCF said 27 babies have been potentially saved from abandonment.
