Sunday, August 9, 2009

Safe Havens Save Lives - So Why Aren't They Being Used?

On Friday night, on a nice looking street on Chicago's south side, a family was pulling into their garage at about 10:30pm after a day out. An 8 year old boy heard crying, and told his parents. They looked around, didn't see anyone, but they heard it. They were sure they'd heard a baby crying.
They called the police, who came with flashlights and looked around the alley. They focused on a garbage can. You know, the big, deep black ones. With a broken broom handle, they poked around and tried to figure out what was in there.
They lowered the can to the ground sideways to pull everything out. It had rained that day, everything was wet and dirty.
Including the newborn boy they found wrapped in a pair of sweatpants, his umbilical cord still attached. They scooped him up and cleaned him off, and to everyone's relief, he began to cry.
What an awful way to begin your life, by being thrown away by your mother. We met the little boy that heard the baby's cries, and he shies away from being called a hero. But the fact is, that family and those police officers saved that baby's life on Friday night. Instead of shrugging off a strange noise, they got help. That's pretty remarkable in these jaded times where everyone says, "Hey, not my problem."
Well let me tell you something - children being thrown in garbage cans IS your problem. It's my problem. It's their problem.
Until every child born here is safe and cared for -whether by birth parents, adoptive parents, foster parents- this will remain our problem. And we have a lot of work to do to stop it.
No one should begin their life like that.

CBS News Story

3 comments:

Veronica Garcia said...

They mentioned the Safe Haven Law on the news I was watching last night. I don't hear it often but I was glad when I did last night on WGN.

Laura Marchant said...

Oh that is so heartbreaking! I am so glad they found him. I just can't imagine...

Dawn said...

I wish I had an answer for you, something to help. I saw the story on the news and immediately thought of you and your work with Safe Haven. Is there information about the Safe Havens in the local public schools and health clinics?