EXCUSE ME WHILE I BARF

Indiana's adoptee access laws are tough enough as it is. It has three tiers of access. This state is now celebrating its eight year anniversary for their safe haven laws. Safe Haven laws deny due process to both of their parents. Safe Haven laws even further deny adoptees access to their own history and information. It actually legalizes abandoning a child. Whatever happened to being responsible for one's own actions? When you become a parent, you are now responsible not just for yourself but for a child as well. If we would stop teaching abstinence and start teaching sex education, we might have a reduction of this. If we would stop shaming women and young girls about their own sexuality, we would have a reduction of this issue. The story reports only a dozen children saved. What is amazing is that many more children have died in Indiana's foster care system.

Here is the story and the link.

State celebrating Safe Haven Law anniversary

Posted: June 25, 2008 12:21 PM

Natalie Hammond has benefited from the Safe Haven law.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - The death of a five-day-old boy years ago has meant a new life for other children. Wednesday, a celebration was held at the Statehouse for the good that's come from Indiana's so-called Safe Haven Law.

The law came after a dark day in January 2000 when the body of a baby boy was discovered in the parking lot of a local hospital. A worker at Community Hospital North found the frozen body of a newborn boy who came to be known as Baby Ephraim.

Had the boy's mother left him outside the hospital hoping someone would take him inside? The mystery has never been solved.

But Baby Ephraim's death has led to better lives for a dozen Indiana children.

Natalie Hammond and Austin Gildea have benefited from the Safe Haven law.

"Now seeing Natalie and Austin here, it's extremely gratifying to see the fruits of our labor," said Bob Floyd of the Safe Haven Alliance.

The law allows mothers, who feel they can't care for their newborns, to leave them in a safe place, such as a hospital, with no questions asked.

Natalie's birth mother left her at Fort Wayne's Parkview North Hospital. She was soon in the arms of her new, adoptive family.

"I mean, it was dream come true. It really was. We had waited a long time and it was just fantastic. She's my baby girl," said Natalie's adoptive mother Theresa Hammond.

Now some of the people who helped get Indiana's Safe Haven Law passed after Baby Ephraim's death, want to make sure as many people as possible know about it.

"It's just essential that the Safe Haven Law continues to exist and that Hoosiers understand it exists," said Lieutenant Governor Becky Skillman.

Lawmakers passed Indiana's Safe Haven Law in 2000. For more information on the law click here or call 1-888-510-BABY.