A very wierd thing happened in the neighborhood. A teen gave birth to a baby and dumped it in the park behind where I live. The little one was near the roadway and a passerby heard it crying and called police.
Two police cars, an ambulance and about 30 people were standing around when I got home tonight from work.

Makes you wonder what, or if, people are thinking. There are so many people who would happily adopt a newborn if the Mom so seriously didn't want it.

Nice to know child will be okay. Thank God it's not a really cold night tonight.

That's horrible. It sucks that stuff like that happens, but it's going to continue happening as long as teens are stupid enough to do that kind of stuff. Unless they're Really REALLY careful (and even then they could still get pregnant.)

I'm just glad the baby's okay.

Whether or not many people will want the baby largely depends on the race of the baby. Most black babies that are put up for adoption end up spending their entire lives in foster homes. Just thought I'd add that in. People seem to assume that most babies who are put up for adoption get adopted. That, sadly, is not the case.

I just find it sad that the girl who did this felt she had no other possible way out of it. I can't imagine being in that situation and being so desperate that putting my baby in a dumpster seemed my only way out. I find it difficult to feel anything but pity for her. That has to be an incredibly scary (though presumably self-inflicted) situation. I don't know what I would do if I was in her place.

Part of me feels pity for the girl. The rest of me feels disgust. If she would have used a rubber, things wouldn't have come to this. Second, if you bear a child, you have to own up to it and not just dump the kid in a frickin' dumpster. Not to seem heartless but it's her problem, she should deal with it in the proper manner and the proper manner isn't to literally throw the kid away.

Sounds like she was really stupid and even more immature. She probably didn't want her parents to know and she didn't want to get in trouble. She thought that by dumping the baby that no one would find out, someone would discover it and raise it as their own. She's still a kid worrying about what her parents are going to do rather than the fact that she should have been taking care of this child. It is sad. But it's even worse for the baby. His/her own mother has rejected him before he was even seen. Now he's relegated (depending on his skin colour and gender like Cand said) to years of foster homes, social workers, and institutions all because her/his mother was too chicken to tell her parents

you don't know the circumstances surrounding the pregnancy, so don't be too quick to judge.

Now the child is safe the priority is to find the mother, giving birth is a physically and emotionally traumatic experience, she will need help.

All you can do is hope that in the end the child has a good life and that the mother is able to rebuild her life from the state its currently in.

How do you know it was a teen? This sort of thing isn't reserved to woman who are too immature to face the consequences.

There have been a few assumptions here, i.e: she had a choice to use contraception; she chose not to use contraception; her parent's would have been supportive of her (not kicked her out).

Also, hormones are raginging, irational though may have lead her to believe that dumping the baby was her only solution.

What if her partner had forced her to dump the baby? Or what if her own family had forced her to dump the baby? Maybe she didn't want the stigma of being a teen mother: the way she believed her neighboiurs; friends; school 'mates'; family; people in the street, would have treated her.

Come on, lets face it, how differently would your attitude be towards a teen walking down the road with a baby, than to a teen walking down the road without?

I feel bad for both the baby and the mother. I feel bad that the baby was left on a roadside... who knows what could have happened? I also feel bad for the mother. Who knows what drove her to do this? I have a feeling her family knew about the baby, but refused to accept the fact that she made a mistake, so they forced her to get rid of the baby. Or also, her partner refused to acknowledge the baby and she didn't know what to do. Lastly, she could already have problems and stress in her life and she was driven to getting rid of the baby.

The baby is a little boy.
There isn't any dumpster. He was found on the side of the street, beside a house, just inside (couple steps maybe) a local park. The park is large enough to hold a baseball diamond and a little playpark. I live in the 'burbs.
I had heard from the crowd that the mother was 15. The news this morning said the police have her in custody so presumably she can get a hold of some help. The charges that may be placed are "endangering the life of a child".
I don't know the race of the baby. This particular little area is Caucasian/Asian mix but Calgary does have people of all races. A similar case a few years ago had people lining up to adopt - even with that baby being diagnosed as having down's syndrome.
I do hope the Mother gets some counseling/help. Thank God she's too young for her name to be on the news. Too bad the local pregant woman groups didn't get a hold of her when she was expecting. She may have been hiding the whole pregnancy though and just not known what to do or how to cope.

My grandmother, mother and a few of my friends are or have been that teen. Though others may judge said teenager, I wouldn't and many others wouldn't as well. That would be like me hating Asian folks or white folks or believing people shouldn't marry others of different race (I'm the product of a white/Asian interracial relationship BTW).

I don't know the race of the mother and son.
What the 'paper said was that a petite (small and slender) 15 year old gave birth alone in her room last night. Took the baby boy and dumped him off.
Mother and son are in the hospital currently. I don't know the family or persons involved and so haven't heard her families reaction.
The police have decided on compassion and got her help instead of pressing any charges.
No word on the baby's father's reaction but this only occured last night around 8-9pm. The news people will be talking about this for a while.


On a different note. People of mixed race often show the best characteristics of both. Some really attractive people are mixed. Hybrid vigor?

Okay, I guess I've been kind of an asshole about this, but my mom, grandmother and friends have been through Hell and back for their kids and it sickens me to see some girl just toss aside her own child like that. What goes through these girls' minds when they do stuff like this? I've seen it on the news on several occasions, especially when I lived up north. I know you have to deal with judgement from your family, peers, religious institution and society in general, but what of all the women who have? Were their sacrifices all in vain because it's "okay" to abandon a child like that?

[spam]

My nose has the Caucasian length and the Asian width. I'm also short (Asian) and have a low metabolism (Caucasian). At least I tan well (Asian), have nice hair (Asian) and was able to get away with green eyes (Caucasian).

[/spam]

It's not okay to abandon a child. But in some cases I'd much prefer that then to bring a child into an environment that could be potentially damaging.

What if (and it's all got to be what ifs at this point) this teen came from an abusive family? Would you want to bring a child into that? What if this teen just really had no idea where to go for help? What if this teen didn't even KNOW that she was pregnant? What if she has psychological problems herself?

These are all valid arguments, it's happened to others in the past.

You can't judge people on a rigid set of standards. It's not all black and white, there are a whole hell of a lot of gray areas.

I just recieved a deserved ass-kick from a friend.

Her concern is that I had suggested earlier that a handicapped child was not as valuable as a "normal" child.

That is not the case. No newborn deserves abandonment. A person with a disability is as valuable as anyone else. If I implied otherwise then I deserve a kick to the bum.

I'm pretty split on this. All sorts of things could happen...I'll toss in another possibility...she might have even been raped. Hopefully not, though. =\ I'd rest the blame a little with her for just abandoning the baby, but I don't know what her circumstances are. It's wrong for her to do that, but at least it was in an area that someone would hear, right? Better than the middle of nowhere. I'm hoping this girl gets the help she needs, if she needs any, and learns to make better decisions, and that the baby has a good life.

I can sympathize for the girl and know that she must have been scared and confused. She obviously was not ready to have a child, no teenager is. And it is her fault if she didn't use some form of protection (that is to say that she hadn't been victim of some form of sexual abuse).

However, that does not justify her actions. She should have in no way dumped the child in a dumpster. If she wanted to get rid of a child that badly she could have taken it to a church and left it there. Or even found an adoption agency and left it there. If she didn't want to have to deal with her problems face to face and accept responsibility there were a million other ways that she could have dealt with her 'problem.'

I'm glad to hear that the child was okay, but I'm pretty sure that if the child finds this out later in his/her life he/she will be far more devestated than if he/she had been placed on the alter of a church or steps of an adoption agency. I wish so many people in this world could just wake up and take responsibility for their actions.

I wish they could say "I'm the asshole" and correct their mistakes, or do their best not to make them again. I just wish that humanity was a little more humane.

And this is why I hate humanity.

Anyone who's ever seen my posts know that I'm a big fan of people taking some goddamn responsibility for their actions (not only the mother, but the father... takes two to tango) and this just further enforces my point. Ah well, I feel bad for the kid, I do... not so much sympathy for the mother, and nothing but hatred for the father. I'm sorry for it, I really am, but goddamn. Just... goddamn.

I'm afraid I was wrong earlier. I found out today the baby had been placed in a garbage bag. I thought he'd been in a box or something.
It was trash pickup day this morning. If the baby had not been heard by the passerby he would have died in the night and been picked up by the trash collectors this morning.

On the bright side. Everything is now looking up for him from a bad start. He was heard, he is in care, and he has the good thoughts of people around the world that he has no idea even exist. Life can only go in one direction from a start like that, neh?

A garbage bag?!?!?!!

For christ's sake.....

*fumes*

Baby Braedan is possibly going back to his family. Both the father's (14 years old by the way) parents and the mother's parents very much support and want the child. Social services is doing an assessment of the home but favour the idea. It is not in support of breaking up families.
The police are waiting on a mental assessment of the mother and are still considering pressing charges. Newspaper's are running where to get help stories and how to notice if your teen may be pregnant.

I don't really like the idea that her oops can be so easily forgotten and erased. I suppose she (the mother) should be given a chance but ... it just feels wrong. I don't know. I've never been a Mom so have no real opinion on how good a one this person could be. Though in theory the Grandmother would be the primary caregiver to the baby.

Her "oops" as you call it will by no means be forgotten by her. She will live with it the rest of her life.

Like it's been said before...no one knows the girl's full situation, or what her mental state was. I still find it incredibly heartbreaking that she felt that was her only way out of this. I refuse to judge her, because I (thankfully) have never been in her place.

Too right. I agree completely. I have a little girl and couldn't imagine doing that when she was born, but I was a lot older than 15 when I had her and I had the full support of my family and her father. But a friend of mine wasn't so lucky. She was raped at 15, ended up pregnant and felt she couldn't tell anyone because she effectively had a nervous breakdown and thought she was dirty. She miscarried about a week after her mother figured itout. She was 5 months pregnant at the time and now has been told the chances of her ever having another child are slim to none. She paid for sticking her head in the sand.

I'm sure the young lady who "dumped" her baby will feel the guilt of that for a long, long time. But now her family and the baby's father are involved too, I'm sure she'll do her utmost to make amends for what she clearly felt she had to do. Not just that, but take into account the dangers facing her too, not just the baby. What if there had been complications in childbirth? That stuff HURTS people!! She needed support, and didn't have it. Maybe she felt she couldn't ask for it. At 20 I felt bad telling my mom I was having a baby out of wedlock!!

Lecture over.

Apologies *giggles nervously*

Ok lets go with the facts here, a 15 year old girl dumped her baby...Tthe grandparents are obviously supportive of keeping the grandchild, so she obviously didnt talk to them about it. Im sorry but i can in no way pity this girl... SHE COULD HAVE TOLD HER PARENTS... By the fact that they are supportive leads me to belive that she didnt, and if she wanted to get rid of it... I belive we have an abortion thread somewhere on here, and tho im no longer foaming-at-the-mouth-against-said-thing its prefered to just dumping the kid in a bag and leaving it somewhere... I dont see how somone could pity her, she made a choice that indangered somones life. Thats like pitying somone that drove drunk and hit anouther car but because he dint kill the other person he should be pitied and its all ok... he wasnt in the right mind set... it was his only way home... he should have been more carefull... HE SHOULDNT HAVE DROVE DRUNK IT WAS WRONG... people are far to open minded about things... this chick left her baby in a trash bag, i dont care how old she was or what mind set she was in, ITS WRONG, and several of you will want to argue with me over this... whats wrong is wrong, deal with it.

I'm not denying what she did was wrong.

And I don't know what the law states where the girl is from, but I know that in the UK if a girl under 16 goes to her GP, the GP is required by law to inform her parents of what's going on. She clearly didn't want her parents knowing, for whatever reason. Right or wrong, the girl made a choice and will have to live with it. And my humble opinion is that the girl should be given as much support as she needs. She's got a lot on her plate as it is. Having a baby isn't as easy as it looks. I know I wasn't rational for at least a few days after I had mine.

I'm just saying what I think, that's all. I have no desire to antagonize anyone.

Agreed on all counts. I have a son and I tell you what, God only knows what I would have done if I had to have given birth to him all on my own or had absolutely no support whatsoever afterwards.

The grandparents may be supportive NOW, after the event but who's to say? Surely this girl knows her parents better then you or I?

I was terrified to tell my nan that I was pregnant because she is very much against children outside of wedlock - she was completely different after the birth.

Being a mother yourself, i have no idea how you can make excuses for this girl... She put her baby in a trash bag. I guess people are just way to open minded, and im trying to be more so... BUT YOU HAVE TO DRAW A LINE.


Some other senariouse that seem like the same idea to me along with the drunk driving:

A guy goes out and gets drunk, come home and beats his wife to the point she has to be taken to the hospital... turns out hes way over the healthy limit for alcohol... and ends up in the hospital as well... he still beat his wife and its wrong... she could of died... "but he was drunk" "he wasnt in the right state of mind" "we dont know the whole story, she could have been with anouther man when he came home" he still beat the hell out of his wife and its wrong, pity is not deserved... disgust and a good but kicking is.

some kids get a hard time... so they take a gun to the school and shoot it up... but dont kill anyone just hurt them... "they were being bullied" "they were just stupid kids" "they wernt in the right state of mind" "they wouldnt have done it had they known what was going to happen" "they didnt hurt anyone" they took a gun to a school, that not just somthing you do randomly... and its wrong they hurt people... possibly the people wernt overly innocent... but it is still wrong

these are both things that people MADE A CHOICE along with the girl a choice was made she had 9 mounths to handle the fact that she was pregnant... and tell somone... and get help that was needed... they do have free pregnacy clinics you know... and shelters for pregnant women that help all the way threw the pregnacy and then afterwards if the mother wants to keep it, or give it up for adoption. THE GIRL MADE A CHOICE AND THERE IS NO EXCUSE. she decided that her social life was more imoprtant then her health and that of a innocent child, she didnt even abort it... she jsut waited for it to be born without a word to anyone and threw it away litterly.... that was her choice... and it was a terrible one.

I'm not making excuses at all. I've never said it was the right thing to do but people do make mistakes.



Not the same thing. Under the influence of alcohol.



Not the same thing. Pre - meditated killing.

The girl may not have known she was pregnant. The girl may have been against contraception. The girl may have been against abortion.



That's a rather sweeping comment. I suppose we should also assuming that she's been shagging here there and everywhere, taking drugs, drinking - perhaps even selling a liver or two on the black market?

She didn't make a choice, she made a mistake. If she knew that she would be found, reunited with her child and then have to face EVERYONE and their dog - she sure as hell would have made sure that she wasn't found, if it was her intent to make a get away. If she had planned to do it.

She panicked. It happens. Doesn't make her the devil incarnate.

Out-of-it or not, she technically attempted to commited murder. Look at it like this: If I, a male without children, were to take a helpless adult (not a helpless child) and leave him/her in a trashbag expecting Otto the garbage man to pick it up, I'd be hauled in regardless of whether I was out-of-it or not.

And how could you tell a kid something like this? "When you were a baby, Mommy didn't want you so she left you outside to die and be picked up by the garbage truck."

And you cats say she'll live with it for the rest of her life. Going back to my earlier example, even if I were to "live with it for the rest of my life," people would be screaming for my blood.

I'm completely down with Narthie on all this. Regardless of the situation, trying to murder a child like that is wrong and inexcusable. I don't care what the reasons.

no it makes her ignorant. SHE PUT HER BABY IN A TRASH BAG AND LEFT IT. how is it any diffrent? how? "under the infulance of alcohol" did you just say you werent in the right state of mind after you gave birth? how is that diffrent? and im sorry BUT IF YOU DONT KNOW YOUR PREGNANT AFTER 9 MOUNTHS OF WALKING AROUND WITH IT YOU NEED SOME SEROIOUSE FREAKING HELP. no excuse, and yes that is what it is. this is a baby not a puppy. yall are against animal cruilty and so forth THIS IS A FREAKING BABY. she had 9 mounths in which to get an abortion or atleast throw her stupid @$$ down some stairs or somthing*. SHE PUT A DEFENCLESS BABY IN A BAG AND LEFT IT. and as far as im concerned lock the stupid B**** up and throw away the key, if i paniced and shot somone in the head i would expect NO LESS.


*not to be taken litterly... with the whole stair way thing...

I can absolutely see where both Narth and Ri are coming from.

I think I'll agree to disagree.

I find myself unable to have much sympathy for a person who would put a baby in a trash bag. There comes a point where the offense is such that extenuating circumstances - beyond immediate threat of death - become irrelevant. Maybe she had it rough at home? I don't care, she put a baby in a trash bag. Maybe she was anti-abortion? I don't care, she put a baby in a trash bag. Maybe she was simply woefully ignorant? I don't care, she freaking put a baby in a trash bag.

She regrets it now, it'll haunt her for the rest of her life? My heart bleeds. Her regret or lack thereof alters not one iota of her guilt. I worry for her child; I have grave doubts about her abilities as a mother, considering the very first thing she did.

I think we've all established that regardless of the goings-on around her, she willingly and knowingly put a child in danger with the intentions of ending the kids life.

It's not that I'm unsympathetic of her plight. Being a mom out of wedlock is difficult; I know many who are. Regardless of any difficulty the girl may face, any alternative (and don't give me any crap about adoption being evil on certain kids) is better than murder.

Jesus Christ. I'm baffled as to how one can calibrate his/her moral baromiter to allow for such things.

She may have been very scared and alone. The papers do say she is very remorseful. It would be the Grandmother who will raise the child if the mother's family is reunited with the little guy.

She made a mistake.

I just don't know. She is the biological mother and she should have some say in the baby's future but on the other hand she did already reject the idea of being the mother. Now that she knows her family is with her she may feel she can cope and allow herself to love the baby. I'm not sure how clear the thoughts of a new mother are. Your body chemistry is seriously messed up for a while. The little guy might be better off out of that situation entirely. It's really in shades of grey for me rather than black and white.

Anyway both the Calgary Herald and Calgary Sun are carrying the story and available online. Sorry don't know the exact link but a search engine should find it.

Age, experience, having a child, putting yourself in the position of a 15 year old CHILD.

Ashbless - flipping the subject really, any news on if any charges will be pressed against the father? I'm not sure how the rules work when both kids are underage but surely this is something that is going to be addressed also? If the father had been older then the girl he'd be in deep shit right about now.

Not necessarily. In certain states, if there is a pregnancy is involved, then the parents of said child can't press charges. I figure their logic is that the baby in question needs to be taken care of financially. In some states, sexual relations between an adult and a minor are legal with parental permission of the younger party. Some states forego that logic and will press charges regardless of who had permission from whom.

The statutory rape stuff can be bogus sometimes. I can understand if the guy's in his twenties and the girl is in her early teens, but on many occasions, parents have called in the 18-year-old boyfriend of their 17-year-old daughters. When my brother turns 18 in October, someone could call him in because his girlfriend is a few months younger than he is (though it would be a misdemenor). Technically, Spiffy and I can't be dating because I'm 19 and she's 17.

Not to get too off-topic, but the first paragraph is pertinant.

There wasn't anything in the paper today about the abandoned baby. I don't know the girl or her family so I get my news the same as the rest of the city. I only saw charges being contemplated for the mother and nothing for the father. The father is a year younger than the mother. If I hear anything more I'll add it to the thread.

Righteous, could you verify that with some information?

Which part. GTS?

The main way I learn about laws and goofy cases from both Florida and other states if from my friend Chris, his dad, my mom's uncle and other random cops I know (ones I actually trust). That and I was almost brought in for statutory rape when I was seventeen, but because I wasn't "of age" they couldn't do anything.

The exact law in the state of Florida is that if the older party is under 24 and the younger party is under 16, it's a felony. If the older party is under 24 and the younger party is over 16, it's a misdemenor. If the older party is over 24, the younget party has to be over 18, otherwise, it's a felony. Around here most folks don't care. That's why you have high school freshman getting boned by guys that were seniors when I was their age.

Chris once told me of a guy in his mid twenties who had a sexual relationship with a 15- or 16-year-old girl. The parents called the cops on him and he was arrested. As soon as the girl found out she was pregnant, the charges were dropped and the guy walked. The parents weren't exactly happy. For the life of me, I can't remember the state this was in.

true, ri, you would be hauled in... and you would be incapable of the defense that 1 mother in 1,000 becomes subject to:

Postpartum Psychosis... its a real thing, guys. this happens a lot. this is a real situation, and isn't just being "out-of-it." most mothers get some postpartum depression, and dont go see anybody, thinking its normal... but it can escalate and lead to the thousands of deaths that it causes...

but i have no way of knowing how this affects this case. i suspect it doesn't. i assume she just freaked. i would too... not enough to commit murder. but, this raises the abortion question for me.

would it have been better if she had aborted the baby? and if so, why?

And all that means what to me? If you have a mental problem, you should walk? Hell no. Just because a woman has postpartum psychosis (or schitzophenia or bipolar disorder type 1b or anything) does not mean she is relieved from guilt.

And don't give me any crap about mental illness or "temporary insanity" being a reason to get off. I'm mentally ill. I've been arrested. I've never walked because of it. I can understand people like Ed Gein who truely can't help it. My mom and NAMI represent these folks. But when you have the mental capacity that this girl apparently has, then no consideration should be made.

Ideally, Karis, she shouldn't have been having unprotected sex in the first place. After that, it was her call to get an abortion or not. What DEFINATELY shouldn't have been done was the attempted murder of said child (for the love of f*ck's sake, she put her own baby in a trashbag for the garbage truck!).

I've had my internet connection stuffed up for a ouple of days, so bear with me while I catch up. In the meantime, I have a couple of points for you. I'm in the UK and I'm assuming laws will be similar in your area, Ashbless.

1 Any health professional dealing with a CHILD (please don't forget we are still talking about a CHILD, NOT an adult)under 16 be it a GP or someone in a family planning clinic, is BY LAW required to contact that child's parents in a case like this, unless it's a domestic abuse kinda case in which case they call social services. This girl didn't want her parents to know. This girl possibly couldn't even admit it to herself. At 15, I'm unconvinced I'd have done much different. I can't see me abandoning a child, but that's just me.

2 Some of you are assuming she didn't use contraception. No contraceptive is 100% effective. I've been on the pill for donkeys years and I've still fallen pregnant more often than planned (miscarriages, before anyone jumps on the human rights bandwagon - I'm pro choice though). Apparently even sterilisation isn't guaranteed 100% either. Now I know that I didn't get any "this-is-a-condom-this-is-how-you-use-it" type sex ed lessons til I was 16.

3 The hormone changes you go through when having a baby are horrendous people. Bloody hell, I cried over weather reports. Even coming home from the hospital the day after I gave birth, someone put a few balloons outside my front door. I even cried about that!!

4 Three words for you; POST NATAL DEPRESSION. I have a friend who suffered this after she had her 3rd child. She basically couldn't cope with all 3 kids, so she got depressed and started rejecting her baby. She felt unable to ask family and friends for help, so she got worse. She finally got the help she needed in the end and she's the best mum I know. If I'm half the mother she is I'll be doing a good job. She just needed a little help in the beginning. The young lady in this case is no different. She needs a chance to make amends and recover from her ordeal herself.

5 She didn't want her baby to die. No way. She would have done a more thorough job of it if she intended her baby to be harmed. She left him for someone else to find and care for. Maybe she thought she wouldn't be a good enough mum and so thought, in her hormone befuddled and most likely delirious through pain and bloodloss state of mind, that putting him in a public place like that would get him to where he needed to be. She was wrong. She made a mistake.

Please understand that I'm not defending what she did. The original question posted by Ashbless was something like "How can a mother do that to her child". I'm just listing reasons I can think of why she might have done what she did.

Narth, Ri, you have your opinions and I respect 'em. The world would be very boring if we all agreed with eachother, right?

you're totally right, righteous.... i was agreeing with you, just pointing out that it is a real disease with real predictable, studied results. she is not resolved from guilt. all i mean is, if someone denied your disease, or just didn't take it into account like the rest of the facts, you'd be pissed. and totally right.

and like smallcute pointed out, when you're going through it, you just can't be a good mother... even if she didn't abandon it, what if she just threw it up against the wall a couple times? or stopped feeding it?

i think somthing you people are forgetting. SHE PUT HER FREAKING BABY IN A TRASH BAG. she didnt set it on somones doorstep to be found and taken care of. SHE PUT IT IN A TRASH BAG.

Sorry, still nothing in the news. They've gone on to other tragedies.

We don't know the mother's state of mind. I don't agree with what she did but I do feel some pity for her.
I wonder if she felt that she wasn't allowed to love the baby. That she didn't deserve it and so pushed it away. With the support of her family she can now allow herself to love the child. If she bonds then heaven help anyone who tries to hurt what she in error almost gave up the chance of having - her child.

I still haven't heard what social services has decided for baby Braedan.

A couple of years ago I saw a news story dealing with abandoned babies. It said that in a couple of European cities ( in Germany maybe?) there were a couple of experimental "baby abandonment centres." These cities had extremely high baby abandonment rates, and some people thought this was the only way to keep babies out of dumpsters, where the babies were dying.

These centres were buildings that, on the exterior, had drawers that were padded with blankets and could be pulled out and pushed back in, at which point they would lock. Inside, the building was warm and well-let, with nurses on duty 24-7. The idea was that if a woman, as a last resort, felt she had to abandon her baby, she could do it by putting the baby in this drawer where the nurses would be alerted it its presence right away. The mother never had to enter the building or reveal her identity and could leave anonymously. What she could do was note the number of the drawer she had put her baby in, and had a certain length of time to return to the centre to claim the baby. At that point, she would be taken to medical professionals for help and counselled on possible criminal penalties.

The news story was citing the pros and cons of the centres: on the one hand, abandoned babies were not dying in dumpsters, and mothers had a chance to change their mind. On the con side, some people saw this as condoning child abandonment. However, I don't think the story reported an increase in abandonment since the centres opened- understand, we are talking about drastic cases here. I am split on the issue- ideally, this is something that would never be needed; however, the reality is that sometimes children are abandonned. I just don't know. Nothing is ever black and white.

Anyone know anything about this? Your thoughts?

I think that that's a good idea. But there are still a few hiccups with it. How would teenage mom's get there? I wasn't alowed to go ANYWHERE at 15, or even 17. Maybe it's just that I had an over protective mother. I dunno. But the basic idea sounds good to me. These babies will get dumped whether there's a centre nearby or not, so providing a safe place for the baby is a good idea in my book. Not all mothers can bond with their babies. Hmm. Certainly a better alternative to a garbage heap or a cold church.

On the other hand if a mother really wanted to give up a child safely, there's always hospitals, so why spend money building something that essentially is already there? Hmm, tough one. I'm going to go do some research before I gob off about this one....

I've never had that problem. Rather the opposite. Cops have on many occasions pounced on me as soon as they find out I'm mentally ill. I've been brought in for doing things a "competant" person would get away with.

I saw the Mom and baby out for a walk today - just a few minutes ago. She had one of those stollers that zip up on rainy or mosquito filled days. The little wasn't really visible as he was covered up by a blanket. It's cool today.

I guess social services decided to let her family have their family member back again and it looks like she's stepping up to the responsibility of raising him. I imagine a social worker drops in once a week though. There's also a nurse from the health region who drops in on all the new Moms once a week to answer any questions and check how the little ones are growing. They check growth, weight, and to see that all the newborn jaundice has passed. That happens with all the new Moms - not just the one's that mess up. The health care nurse will probably also be stopping in.

My one friend and her husband found the visiting nurse to be a huge help. I'm kinda under the impression that nobody gets slipped a how-to-parent manual with the arrival of the newborn. Too bad that.

As promised, an update. In the Calgary Herald November 2, 04.


There's a bit more in the article but that's the gist of it. It's not clear from the article if that grandmother is the father's mother or the mother's mother. Nothing about the father is mentioned in the article. Possibly because he's a year younger than she is.