Recently, Missouri recorded its first case of an infant being anonymously placed in a safe haven baby box, the modern equivalent a medieval invention. In the Middle Ages, churches and convents often provided “foundling wheels” that allowed mothers who couldn’t care for an infant to anonymously place the baby in a monitored “hatch.” Using the baby hatch rang a bell, ensuring that an attendant would come quickly and care for the child. 1000 years ago, the policy was intended to diminish the risk that a desperate mother might dispose of a newborn in the nearest river. Today, likewise, the policy behind providing safe haven sites and safe haven baby boxes is to protect infants from being killed. Now, all 50 states have laws that allow a parent to safely relinquish an infant without fear of being prosecuted for child abandonment.
The key enticement for a new mother in dire straits is the anonymity that most of the state safe haven laws offer. We’re hearing through the grapevine that sometimes there’s a cultural clash between the purposes of the bill and the processes of state child protection agencies that often are charged with taking in these children and helping them find permanent, stable homes. In New Mexico, efforts are pending to modify the state’s safe haven law to ensure that when a child is anonymously and safely relinquished that CPS respects the parent’s anonymity to the extent possible and doesn’t make efforts to track down the parent or find relatives for the child. It’s a tricky balance, especially when considering the need to promote safe relinquishment while ensuring child safety and complying with federal ICWA requirements regarding children who may be affiliated with a Native American tribe. But without guaranteed anonymity for the parent relinquishing the child, I’m not sure how it’s possible to fulfill the purposes of the Safe Haven laws.
In other news:
The Wall Street Journal calls CarePortal, which we use pretty extensively here in Georgia, “The Uber of Foster Care.”
“Born in Los Angeles to a drug-addicted mother, [Rob] Henderson was put in foster care at age 3. By the time he was 17, he’d lived in ten different homes.” He later graduated from Yale and has a new book out about his experiences: Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class. I’ve ordered a copy and hope to review it for y’all.
An interesting case out of Indiana has the potential to attract the US Supreme Court’s attention. The parents allege that their child who identified as transgender was removed by CPS because they refused to affirm the child’s identity, as doing so would violate their religious beliefs. The State says the child was removed because of a severe eating disorder that the parents had not effectively addressed.
In Maine, child advocates are pushing for the creation of a separate department of children and family services.
Virginia is considering a bill to cover college costs for former foster youth.
Michigan is trying to increase the number Muslim foster families.
A project in the Missouri Ozarks will create a “multigenerational” community for foster families and children as well as youth aging out of care.
The Alabama Supreme Court says frozen embryos are people, too!
A lawsuit in New York City claims CPS investigators unfairly use coercive tactics against families under investigation for child maltreatment.
There’s your child welfare news for the week! Thanks for reading, and please share and consider becoming a paid or free subscriber!