Comments on: A critical perspective on the “baby safe haven”/babydump programs http://www.babylovechild.org/2009/11/24/a-critical-perspective-on-the-baby-safe-havenbabydump-programs/ Yet another Bastard Blog Fri, 29 Jul 2011 21:20:28 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Baby Love Child http://www.babylovechild.org/2009/11/24/a-critical-perspective-on-the-baby-safe-havenbabydump-programs/comment-page-1/#comment-4203 Baby Love Child Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:13:25 +0000 http://www.babylovechild.org/?p=1461#comment-4203 Melissa has added <a href="http://www.babylovechild.org/2009/10/01/still-more-border-babies-routinely-relabeled-safe-haven-saves-in-oh-nj-mi-and-ky/comment-page-1/#comment-4200" rel="nofollow">a third comment</a> to the <a href="http://www.babylovechild.org/2009/10/01/still-more-border-babies-routinely-relabeled-safe-haven-saves-in-oh-nj-mi-and-ky/" rel="nofollow">original post</a>. I wanted to move a copy of it over here to keep the pieces of her story together on this post. Melissa said: Well I Delivered My son in the city of westland which is in wayne county I also live in the same city so when I filed for custody my attorney filed in wayne county since as the child custody laws state that you must file either where the child was born , where the mother resides or where the child is currently since the adoption agency refused to tell my attorney which county my son was we filed in wayne county and had an order to return custody within the first week but the adoption agency filed in macomb and refused to return custody until the macomb court hearing they then proceed to lie and say that I knew where my child was located and filed in wayne county anyways but how could I have known where they placed my child. When I called the social worker to make her aware of my decision she had placed my baby with the prospective adopted parents then when I called she removed my baby to a host family which I found out later after the fact that was in gensee county which was niether of the three locations of which paperwork should have been filed in. I had the host mother subpoena who I loved dearly she was very sweet to me and let me visit during the 5 week custody battle and gave me all the photos she had taken of my baby in those weeks because she had the baby in gensee county already when the adoption agency filed with the court in macomb county. They tried everything to keep my son. The social worker gave me a paper to sign while I was at the hospital in complete shock and loaded with demoral when my attorney requested the paper I signed they never gave it up. I had absolutely no recollection of what the paper even said and they eventually in the end when I regained custody tried to sue me for their legal fees. This topic is very near to my heart and I swore when my son came home that I was gonna do something about it but I’m still trying to find a platform to do it from. Thanks so much! Melissa has added a third comment to the original post. I wanted to move a copy of it over here to keep the pieces of her story together on this post.

Melissa said:

Well I Delivered My son in the city of westland which is in wayne county I also live in the same city so when I filed for custody my attorney filed in wayne county since as the child custody laws state that you must file either where the child was born , where the mother resides or where the child is currently since the adoption agency refused to tell my attorney which county my son was we filed in wayne county and had an order to return custody within the first week but the adoption agency filed in macomb and refused to return custody until the macomb court hearing they then proceed to lie and say that I knew where my child was located and filed in wayne county anyways but how could I have known where they placed my child. When I called the social worker to make her aware of my decision she had placed my baby with the prospective adopted parents then when I called she removed my baby to a host family which I found out later after the fact that was in gensee county which was niether of the three locations of which paperwork should have been filed in. I had the host mother subpoena who I loved dearly she was very sweet to me and let me visit during the 5 week custody battle and gave me all the photos she had taken of my baby in those weeks because she had the baby in gensee county already when the adoption agency filed with the court in macomb county. They tried everything to keep my son. The social worker gave me a paper to sign while I was at the hospital in complete shock and loaded with demoral when my attorney requested the paper I signed they never gave it up. I had absolutely no recollection of what the paper even said and they eventually in the end when I regained custody tried to sue me for their legal fees. This topic is very near to my heart and I swore when my son came home that I was gonna do something about it but I’m still trying to find a platform to do it from. Thanks so much!

]]> By: Marley Greiner http://www.babylovechild.org/2009/11/24/a-critical-perspective-on-the-baby-safe-havenbabydump-programs/comment-page-1/#comment-4201 Marley Greiner Wed, 25 Nov 2009 19:10:18 +0000 http://www.babylovechild.org/?p=1461#comment-4201 Thanks Melissa for sending your "safe haven" experience, and thanks to BLC for posting it. I've been researching baby dumping since 2000 and am currently working on a scholarly piece on the Ohio's fiasco. We very seldom hear first-person accounts from women who have used the law, so it's impossible to know how and why it's utilized. $ 20,000 to get your baby back? That is outrageous. I'd be very interested to know what adoption agency this was. There's a couple of usual suspects in Michigan. I've long thought that babies are returned, absent abuse, because states know the laws, if challenged will be ruled unconstitutional. Nobody wants to be that first domino--or invalidate the adoptions that came from them (which could happen). I am highly suspicious on how Michigan uses the law. The vast majority of "safe haven surrenders" there are of babies born in hospital--making them traditional "boarder baby" incidents not "safe havens. There's a lot of anecdotal evidence to suggest that it's this way all over the country. There are a few genuine walks-ins but the rest are regular hospital abandonments and the stats are cooked to promote the program. I'd love to know more about your case. You can contact me through BLC or through my own blog The Daily Bastardette. Thanks Melissa for sending your “safe haven” experience, and thanks to BLC for posting it. I’ve been researching baby dumping since 2000 and am currently working on a scholarly piece on the Ohio’s fiasco. We very seldom hear first-person accounts from women who have used the law, so it’s impossible to know how and why it’s utilized. $

20,000 to get your baby back? That is outrageous. I’d be very interested to know what adoption agency this was. There’s a couple of usual suspects in Michigan.

I’ve long thought that babies are returned, absent abuse, because states know the laws, if challenged will be ruled unconstitutional. Nobody wants to be that first domino–or invalidate the adoptions that came from them (which could happen).

I am highly suspicious on how Michigan uses the law. The vast majority of “safe haven surrenders” there are of babies born in hospital–making them traditional “boarder baby” incidents not “safe havens. There’s a lot of anecdotal evidence to suggest that it’s this way all over the country. There are a few genuine walks-ins but the rest are regular hospital abandonments and the stats are cooked to promote the program.

I’d love to know more about your case. You can contact me through BLC or through my own blog The Daily Bastardette.

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