| JEFFERSON CITY - News of a newborn baby found alive in a trash bin buried under a foot of brush in St. Louis on May 5th spurred Senate Leader Mike Gibbons, R-Kirkwood, to remind scared parents of a state law he sponsored and passed in 2002 that was triggered after a baby was found in a dumpster in St. Louis nearly a decade ago. The law gives parents an option to relinquish custody of their newborn child to a safe place without facing prosecution for abandonment. However, the problem may be in how to reach the person who would not consider other options.
Gibbons said this parent's choice to abandon the child put the baby in danger and the parent can be charged with the crime of child abandonment or obviously worse if the baby had died. The Class B felony is punishable with 5 to 15 years in prison. The lesser charge is a Class D felony punishable by up to 4 years.
The Safe Places for Newborns Act shields desperate parents from prosecution who leave their unharmed newborn with hospital employees, firefighters, emergency medical technicians or law enforcement officers. Under the state law, parents can leave babies 30 days old or younger and not face prosecution.
"We've seen it across our country, and although rare, a young parent can panic and leave the newborn for dead," Gibbons said. "We want to encourage them to do the safe thing for the baby. Thank God for Mr. Wesley Falker for investigating the sound he heard, ultimately saving the life of this not-even-a-day old baby boy."
In 2005, the spirit of the law worked when a parent had her boyfriend leave her 8-month old son at Truman Medical Center in Kansas City.
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