HARTFORD, Conn. — Bolton First Selectman Pamela Sawyer still remembers the day she opened a newspaper in 1988 and read a story about an infant that was left outside and died in a Meriden parking lot. It was part of the impetus that lead her to sponsor the Safe Havens Act during her time in the Connecticut General Assembly.
“You give an opportunity for someone who’s in such distress, such panic, a place to go. And they’re protected and the baby’s protected," Sawyer said Thursday at St. Francis Hospital where Department of Children and Families (DCF) officials joined Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz to promote the 22-year-old Safe Havens Act during Child Abuse Prevention Month.
The Act allows parents to hand their babies to emergency department staff and then DCF places the babies with families. Since the law passed in 2001, 52 babies have been surrendered. All 37 licensed emergency departments in the state stand committed to accepting surrender. Hartford's St. Francis Hospital has taken in the most babies in recent years: six.
The law allows mothers to surrender infants 30 days old and younger to emergency department nurses, anonymously and without legal repercussions.
One parent’s desperation can become another parent’s dream. That's what happened to "Kasey" who adopted baby Charlotte two years ago.
“She was two days old," Kasey said. "We literally stopped at Target on the way to the hospital, picked up a car seat and a stroller."
“We stayed the night with her and you know got to do all the hands-on parenting right from the start, which was really special and unique for adoptive parents to get that experience.”
Charlotte was surrendered to nurses by her birth mother. She was born with substances in her blood, which required a few extra days of monitoring.
It's been uphill since.
“She’s incredibly bright," Kasey said.
Surrenders spiked during the pandemic. From 2020-2021, there were nine babies surrendered under the Safe Havens Act. In 2022, two babies were surrendered and none to date in 2023.
But zero surrenders this year concerns DCF Commissioner Vanessa Dorantes who worries not enough people know about the law.
“That person who feels the level of desperation that they would leave a child in an unsafe space," she said.
Not all adoptions are as seamless as baby Charlotte’s. Kasey’s advice when seeking to adopt: stay flexible.
“We were open to an open adoption with parents who wanted to be involved. But in this situation, they did not want to be from the start so they signed away their rights immediately and we started the adoption process right away," he said.
“However long we’re meant to have this child with us is however long they’re meant to be with us."
While surrenders are down, calls to DCF's care line are up. They received 65 thousand of calls last year. If you know of a child living in unsafe conditions, you are urged to call the care line at 800-842-2288.
Samaia Hernandez is a reporter for FOX61 News. She can be reached at shernandez@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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