Safe haven for infants

Lately, I've been reading news stories of infants being abandoned. The other day, a newborn baby girl was found inside a box in Lapu-Lapu City. Last year in the same city, I saw a Facebook video of a newborn baby boy found in a paper bag. I am reminded of my experience when I was still in second grade when I was one of the curious onlookers of a newborn who was found in a dumpster along V. Rama Ave. When I worked as a nurse at VSMMC, there were mothers who, after giving birth, just left their babies at the hospital and never came back. In all cases, the police investigate and try to find the birth mother, and if not found, the Department of Social Welfare and Development takes custody of the child.

What really tugged my heartstrings was the recent case of an abandoned premature baby boy found in Daanbantayan last May. Despite the expert medical care at VSMMC and the all out support from the Cebu Provincial Government, the poor child did not survive. Such death could have been preventable.

The 1987 Philippine Constitution vows to value the dignity of every human person and defends the rights of children and affords them special protection from all forms of neglect, abuse, cruelty, exploitation and other conditions prejudicial to their development. In response to this state policy, there are provisions in the Revised Penal Code and other existing special penal laws that seek to punish crimes against children.

However despite all these laws, still, newborn abandonment happens all the time. We become indignant, and rightfully so, of such cruel, senseless and inhuman act of the mother or the adult who left the child at such precarious situation that not even animals do such a thing to their young. But after the initial shock, we move on and forget about it. And the next thing we know, there's another abandoned baby found somewhere.

So what must be done? First let us recognize that newborn abandonment is a societal problem. Not only does it harm the child but the mother as well. As a community, it also reflects upon us on what systems we have in place for mothers of these abandoned children who may have been victims of rape or incest. Or of a mother who may have been forced to abandon her baby because of poverty, her lack of readiness, lack of familial support. Or maybe the pregnancy or the baby is unwanted, or was conceived under scandalous circumstances. Knowing these to be some of the possible reasons of newborn abandonment, then perhaps we can start addressing its root causes.

While we continue to strengthen the support structures for women and mothers through better employment opportunities, raising labor standards and higher pay, proper sex education, mental and health counseling, access to reproductive care and other suitable measures, perhaps it is also not a bad idea if we decriminalize newborn or child abandonment, with certain parameters of course. In the US and some countries, there is what we call "safe haven law" which generally allows parents to leave their unharmed infant to law-designated individuals or locations with anonymity and no criminal liability. In New York, we have "Abandoned Infant Protection Act" which allows a parent to anonymously abandon a newborn baby up to 30 days old and without fear of criminal prosecution, if the baby is abandoned in a safe manner. There are designated locations or persons that a parent can promptly notify that they left their infant at such location. Examples of these safe and suitable locations are hospitals, staffed police and fire stations.

This practice may sound liberal, but this is not new. As Wikipedia notes, this goes back to medieval times when it was called "baby hatches." Even Pope Innocent III decreed that these hatches be installed in homes for foundling so that women could leave their child in secret instead of killing them.

A safe haven law is not the all encompassing solution to the problem of newborn abandonment. However, I would rather have one baby saved than to have another infant die because he was left under the mercy of a cold and unwelcoming world.

This column is not a substitute for professional legal advice obtained from a US licensed immigration attorney. The information contained herein does not constitute a warranty or guarantee or legal advice regarding a reader's specific immigration case. No attorney-client relationship is and shall be established with any reader.

For any questions, comments and observations, please contact Atty. Marco Tomakin at [email protected]