By RODNEY FOO
San Jose Mercury News (California)
In the cold and wet pre-dawn hours Monday, an infant was abandoned at a downtown San Jose fire station, marking the first use of a law that allows a parent to safely give up a newborn at a firehouse without facing prosecution.
The baby, just hours old and swaddled in adult clothes, was found by firefighters outside Fire Station No. 8 at East Santa Clara and 17th streets. The person who placed the infant was not seen.
Someone called 911 operators to report that the child was left outside the station. A dispatcher then called firefighters, who discovered the baby at 2:51 a.m., authorities said.
“They examined the baby and they were ecstatic to see the baby looked like it was taken care of,” said fire Capt. Alberto Olmos. “It looked like whoever dropped off the baby had taken care of the baby and it was not harmed by the elements.”
The baby was taken to a hospital and was reported to be in good health, said San Jose police Sgt. Nick Muyo.
Officials said it was an example of the state’s 5-year-old Safely Surrendered Baby Law, which allows parents to legally give up a baby to a hospital or other designated sites within three days of birth.
Fire stations were added to the list in Santa Clara County because they are strategically located and are staffed 24 hours a day, including by firefighters also trained as paramedics, Olmos said. Anyone who doesn’t know where a fire station is located can call 911 and firefighters will respond to pick up the baby.
During a three-month period in 2004, three shocking incidents underscored the need to publicize the law:
A 22-year-old maid was accused of killing her baby and putting the body in a garbage bag at the Palo Alto hotel where she worked.
A crying 2-day-old boy was found abandoned in a shopping cart in the parking lot of a San Jose bar.
A teenage mother was arrested for dumping her baby in a portable toilet at a Salinas Valley migrant workers’ camp. The child survived.
In February, a baby boy was left on the doorstep of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in San Jose. That child is fine but the parents have not come forward nor have police received any leads in the case, Muyo said.
Monday’s incident stood in stark contrast to the previous instances of child abandonment and may indicate that publicity about the Safely Surrendered law is starting to sink into the public’s consciousness, according to officials. Some, however, said awareness of the law could be much improved.
“I think it’s scarcer in some areas and more publicized in others,” said Debbe Magnuson, founder and CEO of Project Cuddle, a Costa Mesa-based organization dedicated to saving babies from abandonment.
It appeared that whoever gave up custody of the baby early Monday complied with the spirit of the law.
“This is not being handled at this point as a criminal case,” Muyo said.
A description of the child — including gender and race — is being withheld by authorities. Under state law, the parents can reclaim the infant within 14 days of giving it up. Officials are concerned that a stranger could attempt to claim the baby by using a description although the person would have to submit to DNA testing.
According to the state Department of Social Services, only one child in Santa Clara County had been given up under the Safely Surrendered baby law before Monday. There had been 51 in California since the law — which on a statewide basis lets parents give up a newborn to a hospital within 72 hours of birth — went into effect in 2001.
Legislators gave counties the option to designate fire stations as sites that could also accept infants. In 2004, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, Palo Alto and the San Jose City Council agreed to add fire stations to the list of sites.
Monday, Fire Station No. 8 — whose garage and front doors carry the yellow “Safe Place” emblem — became the county’s first fire station to receive an unwanted newborn.
“This is the first time it has been used in San Jose, to my knowledge,” Olmos said.
“Whoever dropped off the baby can be assured the baby is being taken care of . . . and that’s a positive outcome.”