CO - Woman gives away newborn in Colorado Walmart parking lot

noZme

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2008
Messages
4,238
Reaction score
98
"Technically" the parent has to bring a newborn to the safe haven, but who could refuse to take a baby from a mother who is asking you to take it?

Why did no one at the station get the names of the couple? Is there more to the story?

LAKEWOOD, Colorado - A newborn baby was dropped off at a fire station after a woman handed the baby to a couple in a Lakewood Walmart parking lot. When the baby girl was dropped off, it was still covered in amniotic fluids. The newborn seemed to be healthy, but firefighters and paramedics took the newborn to a hospital to make sure the infant did not need medical attention. The baby remains at the hospital.

http://www.khou.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/01/29/woman-gives-away-newborn-in-colorado-walmart-parking-lot/22513857/
 
Good enough for me.
Yes, they could have been awful people who would have tortured the baby.
However, statistically if YOU approach the person they are less likely to be a bad choice... than if you allow them to approach you.

This woman could have left the baby under someone's car, in a cart or in a garbage can.
Instead she handed the baby to people with a warm vehicle to put the child in.
Leave the biological parents alone and adopt the baby out. :twocents:
 
I would have probably stayed right here & called EMTs & police, but all that really matters is that baby is okay.
She chose middle age - grand-parent type people. She did the best she could. At first I thought if the mother could get to Walmart, she could get to a hospital or firehouse. But she may have walked from home to Walmart. And apparently, she had just given birth, so she needed to sit down. Bless her and the baby!
I suppose LE will verify that the baby was actually handed off to that couple via security camera video.
 
I will be very angry if they use that video to ID the parents to charge them.
You are more likely to get away with it if you dump the baby in a dumpster.
Clearly these parents were thinking more of the baby than themselves. They should get credit for that.

I don't mind if they find them to check on the mother's health...
but if they charge them it will only encourage the next person in that area to put baby in a dumpster instead. :twocents:
 
I agree with MsFacetious! Every time a newborn is found "dumped", we are told about dropping them off at a safe haven. In my heart, I understand why mothers do not do this. They fear retaliation by being charged with something. Or they may have outstanding warrants and fear they will be detained.

This mother did what she thought best, the couple wisely accepted the baby, and immediately took it to a fire station. Had they called the police right then, the police would have been out searching for this mom and arrested her for something. IMO.

We, the USA, can not have it both ways! IF a parent drops their baby off, end of story, no questions, no searching by authorities and the parent can live with the knowledge their baby will have a better life than they could have provided. Having a live baby that you know nothing about, is much better than the other option!

In most adoptions, that I am aware of, the new parents have little if anything to go on regarding their baby. So the safe havens need nothing. A warm smile and reassuring comment to the person giving their baby up by the person receiving it is all that needs to be exchanged.IMO.
 
I wish we could build and implement a system of nationwide baby hatches, so that newborn dropoff could be even more anonymous, and less intimidating. I think that dropping off a newborn at a hospital, fire dept, or police dept is too intimidating for most who want to relinquish their newborns anonymously.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_hatch

[video=cnn;world/2014/06/30/pkg-coren-china-baby-hatch.cnn]http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/30/world/asia/china-baby-hatches-jinan/index.html[/video]

http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/30/world/asia/china-baby-hatches-jinan/index.html

[video]http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/18/world/asia/china-baby-hatch-closes/index.html[/video]
 
"Technically" the parent has to bring a newborn to the safe haven, but who could refuse to take a baby from a mother who is asking you to take it?

Why did no one at the station get the names of the couple? Is there more to the story?

LAKEWOOD, Colorado - A newborn baby was dropped off at a fire station after a woman handed the baby to a couple in a Lakewood Walmart parking lot. When the baby girl was dropped off, it was still covered in amniotic fluids. The newborn seemed to be healthy, but firefighters and paramedics took the newborn to a hospital to make sure the infant did not need medical attention. The baby remains at the hospital.

http://www.khou.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/01/29/woman-gives-away-newborn-in-colorado-walmart-parking-lot/22513857/

Interesting. The mother broke no law by handing off her child. She can hand off her child to whomever she wants. The identity of the couple who went to the fire department is protected under safe haven laws.

But if someone other than the mother handed off the child to the couple, we'll be hearing more to this story.

JMO
 
If the woman didn't want the baby and handed it to someone in the Walmart parking lot, what about the baby's father? Did the father even know about the baby? Maybe the baby has a father who would want to raise her. Maybe the father didn't even know that the woman was pregnant with his baby. I think they should make an effort to find the father of the baby to see if he is a decent person and if he wants to raise his child.
 
While we are discussing it, I would like to see an extension of the 72 hour limit for no questions asked.

More reports:
"The couple wanted to stay anonymous and didn't give their names. Beinlich said it was obvious the baby had recently been born. "The child didn’t look like it had been completely cleaned off,"
Linda Prudhomme, with Colorado Safe Haven for Newborns, said since the law was passed in 2000, 40 babies have been safely relinquished. She said the most common profile of a woman who abandons her baby is a middle to upper-class college student who's kept her pregnancy a secret.


http://www.9news.com/story/news/local/2015/01/27/newborn-lakewood-fire-station/22401729/

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/new...-in-lakewood-saying-she-didnt-want-it-anymore


https://twitter.com/jessica9news
 
If the woman didn't want the baby and handed it to someone in the Walmart parking lot, what about the baby's father? Did the father even know about the baby? Maybe the baby has a father who would want to raise her. Maybe the father didn't even know that the woman was pregnant with his baby. I think they should make an effort to find the father of the baby to see if he is a decent person and if he wants to raise his child.

I totally agree with you. I find it troubling that the couple at the fire station wanted to remain anonymous. That unwillingness to identify themselves may be because they are related to the mother.

JMO
 
He said if the couple turns out to be the parents or close relatives of the baby -- and made up the story about the mother in the parking lot -- then no charges will be pursued.

"If a parent handed over the child to total strangers and they took it to a fire station, then the parent could be charged criminally, but that part of the story has not been substantiated," Davis said.

Colorado criminal law states that abandoning a baby is punishable by up to 26 years in prison.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The couple, first reported to be "elderly," were later said to be in their 40s or 50s.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/new...-in-lakewood-saying-she-didnt-want-it-anymore
"If a parent handed over the child to total strangers and they took it to a fire station, then the parent could be charged criminally," Steve Davis of the Lakewood Police Department said.

While it doesn't appear that the baby's mother followed the law, Linda Prudhomme, Executive Director of Safe Haven for Newborns, says it is a teaching moment.

"She didn't just throw that baby away," Prudhomme said. "So whether or not she should be prosecuted I wouldn't want to make that judgment call."

This incident can help make sure parents know how to safely give up a newborn and say anonymous.

"It isn't a Safe Haven relinquishment, but it is a good opportunity to make sure that people know about the law," Prudhomme said.

http://www.msnewsnow.com/story/27964613/colorado-woman-gives-up-newborn-at-walmart

A middle aged couple dropped off a newborn baby girl still covered in amniotic fluid to a Lakewood, Colorado fire station on Tuesday after it was given to them at a Walmart.

The baby didn't belong to the couple but was given to them by strangers at a Lakewood Walmart parking lot that morning.

The fire department did not reveal any more details about the baby's biological parents but they do not believe that the middle-aged couple knew them in any way.

Linda Prudhomme who works with the Colorado Safe Haven for Newborns, told ABC News that since the law passed in 2000, 40 babies have been safely taken into care.

'If the couple who dropped the baby off are relatives or the parents of the baby — and made up the story about the mother in the parking lot — then the circumstances fall under the Safe Haven Law. If it is determined that the baby was legally abandoned, police will write a report but will not pursue the mother,' she said.

Prudhomme said that the baby's actual mother didn’t correctly abide by the law.

'If a parent handed over the child to total strangers and they took it to a fire station, then the parent could be charged criminally, but that part of the story has not been substantiated,' said Steve Davis with the police department.

A law passed in Colorado called The Safe Haven Law makes it legal for the parents of an unwanted child to drop in at a hospital or fire station up to 72 hours after the birth.

Any longer than 72 hours and a parent can face up to 26 years in prison.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...couple-Walmart-parking-lot.html#ixzz3QGtQ4alS
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
 
I hope the police are looking into this, especially the Walmart security footage. This story has some real worrisome components, and trips my hinky meter. What if the "middle aged couple" forcibly took the infant from, say, a teenaged daughter who they didn't want to have the baby? What if the woman who gave birth to the baby is mentally disabled? Or being coerced in some way?

The unwillingness of the middle aged couple to give their names is all kinds of odd, IMO. Most people would be quite eager to provide that information.

There is way more to this story, IMO. I don't think we have heard the end of it.
 
I thought the couple only didn't want to give their name to the media, but did to LE?
On one hand I wish the bio mom to be left alone... but also, what if she did this to spite the father?

I think the most important thing is safety of the baby, and these laws.
IMO, do NOT go after bio mom or dad, just keep it and have it adopted.
If mom/ dad are found and prosecuted, so many more babies in the future will be at risk... imo
 
I thought the couple only didn't want to give their name to the media, but did to LE?
On one hand I wish the bio mom to be left alone... but also, what if she did this to spite the father?

I think the most important thing is safety of the baby, and these laws.
IMO, do NOT go after bio mom or dad, just keep it and have it adopted.
If mom/ dad are found and prosecuted, so many more babies in the future will be at risk... imo

I've read several news stories and all indicate the couple did not want to give their names to the fire department. That's problematic because it is unknown whether the mother gave them the child or someone else gave them the child. And you're right, this may have been done to keep the child from her father. I think the goal at this point is to protect everyone's rights and safety and not to prosecute.

JMO
 
http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2015/01/woman_newborn_baby_walmart_parking_lot.php

Things may be resolved soon. Last night, Davis reveals, investigators told him they may have identified the young mother -- and they think it's possible that the two people who dropped off the baby were actually relatives, not strangers. This scenario may not precisely fit the provisions of the Safe Haven law, either, but it's a lot closer, "and we're very much in agreement with letting the Safe Haven law take its course and do what it's designed to do," he says, adding that he expects to be able to provide an update within the next day or so.
 
I think they should make an effort to find the father of the baby to see if he is a decent person and if he wants to raise his child.

That would negate the entire purpose of the "safe haven" laws. The idea being if the mother kept the pregnancy a SECRET she could turn the baby over to authorities instead of having to dispose of baby in order to retain her secret.

I can understand why the couple may not want to provide their name (and they shouldn't have to). Not everyone wants to get wrapped up in an investigation, and for all they know the mother could be nuts and later claim they STOLE her baby, or maybe a hospital would discover signs of abuse and blame the couple yada yada.

I personally would have just called the authorities, or told the store to call, rather than actually take possession of the infant and drop him/her off.
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
161
Guests online
2,034
Total visitors
2,195

Forum statistics

Threads
590,043
Messages
17,929,276
Members
228,044
Latest member
Bosie
Back
Top