Lighting Their Way Home

We have all heard stories about newborn babies whom have been found dead merely hours after they were delivered.  Their mothers, for whatever reason, are not able to care for their baby, do not want their baby, or have been hiding their pregnancy from the very beginning, leave their newborn child in a dumpster, trash can, alley,  park, stair well etc.  These innocent babies do not stand a chance alone, and only hours after being given life, it is taken away.  This completely breaks my heart, and I ask myself, why are we not doing more to raise awareness of safe surrender for these mothers who do not feel they have another option?

The purpose of safe surrender is to protect infants from being hurt or killed due to abandonment.  Safe surrender laws allow parents or legal guardians to confidentially and anonymously surrender an infant up to 7 days,in some states, after their birth at any safe place such as a hospital emergency room, a fire department or a police station.  They do not need to provide any information, they just walk in, hand their baby to a safe person and walk out.  That simple.  A babies life is saved, a couple that may otherwise have never had a child, can become a family, and a mother has done the right thing, instead of becoming a murderer. 

I personally believe that we need to do more to have the safe surrender laws become common knowledge.  I commend the states which have passed them and thank them for protecting infants whose futures in other circumstances would have been non existent.  Mothers need to know that safe surrender is a completely viable option before leaving their baby in some random dirty place, alone and hungry, never knowing if they will be found in time.  Allow these babies to have a future, allow someone else to give them a life that they otherwise would not have had.  Safe surrender is one of the smartest laws that has been passed in the effort to protect infants.  Now it is time to make it known.