title: Unmet Needs, Unwanted Persons: A Call for Expansion of Safe Haven Laws.
abstract: Legislative strategies for reducing infant abandonment and neonaticide developed in response to a series of sensational cases that occurred in Texas in 1999. The media coverage of these cases implied that the incidence of the crime was increasing, and Texas legislators responded with a law permitting parents to anonymously surrender their newborn at designated locations such as hospitals. This was the first "safe haven" law. Interest peaked nationwide, and by 2008 all states had a similar version of the law. These laws can trigger rapid cessation of parental rights and a fast-tracked adoption to a preapproved family, reflecting the legislators' assumption that it is better to permit struggling mothers to leave their children with well-intentioned strangers than to abandon the children or end their lives. These laws, however, suffer from several inadequacies.
authors.forename: Lori
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bruce
mesh_terms: D002655:Child Custody / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D002670:Child, Abandoned / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D002676:Child, Unwanted / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011640:Public Policy; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States