What is Abandonment?

Source: International Association of Voluntary Adoption Agencies and NGOs (IAVAAN)

What is infant abandonment?

Media reports indicating that the incidence of babies left in public places has increased over the past few years has led to a growing national concern about baby abandonment. In this discussion, we define an abandoned infant as a newborn, not more than 30 days old, intentionally left or discarded by a parent unwilling or unable to care for the infant

How prevalent is newborn abandonment in the United States?

Unfortunately, no one has a definitive answer to this question. The federal government and most states do not keep statistics specific to abandoned newborns and there is presently no way to determine what portion of infant homicides are due to abandonment.

According to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, 32 to 34 infants were found abandoned each year from 1997-1999.

In the 12 months before Texas passed safe havens legislation, 33 babies were discovered abandoned. According to a CNN review of FBI statistics, nearly five infants under the age of one are killed in the U.S. each week.

What is known about the abandoned babies and their birth parents?

To date, no research has been conducted to identify the population of parents who abandon their babies. The only information available is based on the few cases when authorities identify the parent, but such anecdotal data it is not sufficient to draw definitive conclusions.

How have states responded to this problem?

As of July 2001, 33 states have passed legal abandonment legislation, and many other state legislatures are currently considering safe havens bills. The intent is to save lives by helping parents in crisis safely relinquish a healthy infant to a third party. (Editor's note: as of January 2005, 47 states have enacted formal legislation.)

In general, what does legal abandonment legislation entail?

Legislation varies from state to state, but all laws or proposals diminish or remove the threat of criminal prosecution against parents who relinquish unharmed infants to safe havens identified by the law. Some statutes provide for anonymity and others require an attempt to establish parental identity and provide a basic family medical history.

© Nancy S. Ashe