I’ve written in the past about Safe Haven Boxes, and no, I don’t support them, I believe education and supportive services should be front and center. Do a public education campaign about adoption and other options available, options available at the hospital, the doctor, your church, options that give you time to think things through, rather than a decision you may regret with no recourse. When Safe Haven Baby Boxes became a thing again a while ago I was flabbergasted. I’ve written a couple of posts over the years, but the first post I’m linking to is from The Daily Bastardette, she’s brilliant and knowledgable.
When I was adopted, my mother called up the County Social Worker and arranged to surrender her parental rights to me. That’s all it took, no need to have a baby box, that option to call the County Social Worker is still available to the best of my knowledge with laws that protect the mother. Posts on Safe Haven I’ve written that came up when I searched.
This one was a personal story I wrote back in ’13 Safe Haven…
This one is from a historical document. Time to relearn, what history already taught us…About Revolving Cradles in Europe in 1869, I copied parts of the Agent’s report to Mass Charities that is linked in the post […] means there was more in that paragraph but wasn’t relevent.
The adopted ones blog 
Robyn C
March 19, 2021 at 2:50 am
While I do understand why Safe Haven boxes are problematic, I don’t think a public education campaign would be effective. My understanding is that people who surrender their children under Save Haven laws are truly desperate, and don’t feel like they have anyone in their lives they can trust and/or don’t have resources available to them. I think this is a really complicated topic.
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TAO
March 19, 2021 at 1:19 pm
It is a complicated topic, but baby boxes aren’t the solution either. When safe haven laws first came out I went over what different states included. Hodge podge to say the least, some included protections for change of heart, some didn’t, some checked databases for putative fathers, some did, some included reclaim – NY for example provided options for reclaiming without any blot on your name, timelines, but logical and compassionate.
I don’t have concerns when it’s a fire department, hospital, places like that where they can give a band to the mother to connect her to the child, offer resources in a pamplet, but a baby box with no do overs is wrong.
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TAO
March 19, 2021 at 1:23 pm
Click to access safehaven.pdf
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TAO
March 19, 2021 at 1:25 pm
https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/systemwide/laws-policies/statutes/safehaven/
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Carly Quinn
April 2, 2021 at 6:48 pm
My twin sisters were relinquished in a turning cradle in a frigid 1980 February in Seoul Korea. They were both dangerously jaundiced, one particularly feeble. I’m sure it saved their lives. It is a different culture there regarding abandoned children. There is currently at least one turning cradle still in use. I deeply understand the adoptee need for connection and history and roots, however I also agree with this quote from this article about the Drop Box in Seoul Korea still working today.
https://lozierinstitute.org/the-drop-box-rescuing-hundreds-of-babies-in-south-korea/
As director Ivie put it: “The drop box was Pastor Lee’s desperate act of compassion: ‘I’m jumping in the river to save these children that are drowning.’”
Reflecting on her work at Women’s Hope Pregnancy Center, Director Hwang responded by saying that Lee’s drop box is life-saving and necessary until a “complete overhaul in thinking occurs.” “Because we are dealing with people,” she stresses, it will take time to come to a point when the culture as a whole recognizes the value of every life. “Until this is recognized,” Hwang says, “there will always be babies in dumpsters.”
I’m afraid I don’t have much hope for a time when any culture recognizes the value of every life. Until then, we are all fingers in the holes of a dam ready to burst.
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TAO
April 2, 2021 at 7:23 pm
Thank you Carly.
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