Garden of Angels and Safe Surrender Laws

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Without the fear of arrest or prosecution for child abandonment, Safely Surrendered Baby Laws allow a parent or person with lawful custody to surrender a baby confidentially to a designated Safe Surrender Site. Newborns can be safely surrendered to hospitals in all 50 states, with many states also including fire stations as a Safe Surrender site.

In California, if the baby is 72 hours of age or younger, a parent can hand it over to a hospital employee or a firefighter and walk away. An identifying bracelet is placed on the baby, along with one given to the parent in case they happen to change their mind during the 14 day "cooling off" period.

Founder and Director of the Garden of Angels-Safe Arms and Safe Surrender for Newborns, Debi Faris, stated, "For the State of California, there have been over 300 children surrendered since 2001. Nationwide, the last that we knew of was 1500, but that was about a year ago."

However, that was not always the case. In 1996, before the laws were enacted, Debi's life changed when she witnessed something on tv. "The Garden of Angels is a cemetery for abandoned and unclaimed children. It began because I saw a story on the news about a newborn baby boy being found in a duffle bag, dead and thrown away alongside the freeway, and that little child just caught my heart even though I didn't know him," explained Faris.

Debi Faris contacted the coroner's office and made preparations to bury the baby boy with dignity and respect. Faris claimed that by the time he was ready to be buried, there were two other children found, including another newborn little boy found in a dumpster and a little girl about the age of two, washed up on the beach.

Since then, Debi Faris has buried 87 children, and did not just stop there. She went to her State Senator and worked with him to write the state's Safe Surrender Law. "I go out and speak where ever I can. High schools, junior highs, colleges, fire stations, hospitals. It's all about education. It's all about keeping the awareness that we have this law. This I consider a very life saving law, and I've seen that. I've seen where it's saved so many lives," expressed Faris.

Madyson Doherty was a child who was safely surrendered to the Rancho Cucamonga Fire District. The law had only been on the books for a few weeks in September 2001 when firefighters got the call that a woman was in a shopping center parking lot and wanted to surrender her baby.

Captain Jay Davenport with the Rancho Cucamonga Fire District explained, "We just met her at her vehicle, and the baby was well taken care of, in a car seat and dressed. She had just said that she just could not take care of the three children she had and just didn't want to have the fourth suffer and thought the baby might have a better chance if it was adopted."

Michelle Doherty, Madyson's mother, remarked, "We got her when she was turning about a month old and her final adoption was when she was about two and a half years old, so during that time, it was scary because it was a brand new law." When Madyson was about four years old, her mother got in touch with the fire department to thank the firefighter who kept her safe.

Jay Davenport said that Michelle Doherty contacted him and asked if he remembered the safe surrender, which he did. The Doherty's went down to the fire station and visited with Davenport and reportedly have had a relationship ever since. "We regularly keep in touch with Jay. We send pictures and she draws him pictures," added Michelle Doherty.

Both Jay Davenport and Michelle Doherty are now on the Board of Directors of the Garden of Angels. Madyson is even involved by finding dumpsters to attach stickers to, raising awareness about the Safe Surrender Law.

"I know it was a tough thing for the mom to do, but I think her prayer was answered. She has a great family. She's growing up and doing very well. So it's definitely a success story of the law," expressed Davenport. Michelle Doherty claimed that she is very thankful for the Safe Surrender Law and for the work that Debi has done to get the law passed. "We are just very fortunate and blessed," she said.

Garden of Angels also makes packets that they give to fire stations which include a small blanket, stuffed animal, blanket and other information firefighters might need.

For more information about Garden of Angels, click here.  For a list of Safe Surrender Sites in all 50 states, click here.



Author:Barbara Brooks - FDNNTV.com