Lawmaker wants Legislature to revise safe haven law

CARSON CITY -- A Nevada lawmaker wants the Legislature to review the state's safe haven law to ensure that abandoned babies really are being given up by their parents.

Assemblywoman April Mastroluca, D-Henderson, also wants more people to be made aware of the law and the state to keep track of how many babies are surrendered each year.

Mastroluca said Tuesday she became concerned that a 2-day-old baby dropped off in April at Clark County Fire Station 20, near Nellis and Lake Mead boulevards, might not have been freely given up by its parents.

She said the baby could have been kidnapped, or for some reason not willingly turned over to authorities, noting that she has no inside information that this occurred.

"I want to make sure our authorities are doing due diligence, making sure no one has reported a child as kidnapped or missing," Mastroluca said.

Before a baby is formally turned over to the Division of Child and Family Services or a county agency, Mastroluca wants police to determine whether it is a missing baby.

Under the law, a parent can leave a baby up to 30 days old in a hospital, police or fire station, obstetrics center or emergency care center without facing any punishment. The baby must be handed to a person at the safe haven, not just dropped off at the site.

The parents do not have to give any information about themselves or the baby. They must be allowed to leave at any time and not be followed.

During hearings on the bill, legislators said their presumption was the baby would be given up in most cases by the mother, and the father might not even know of the baby's existence.

But former Sen. Ray Rawson, who sponsored the child haven law in 2001, doesn't think Mastroluca's concern is warranted.

"Who would kidnap a baby just to turn it over to a fire station?" he asked. "That doesn't make sense."

Like Mastroluca, Rawson would favor that some organization stepping forward to publicize the law, as long as it wasn't an expense for the state.

In reviewing the law during the 2011 legislative session, Mastroluca hopes steps can be taken to publicize the safe haven law. She said some teenagers and even older parents might not be familiar with the law, and added publicity could save babies' lives.

Mastroluca suggested that maybe an organization could be found to cover costs of brochures about the safe haven law that would be given out in high schools.

As it stands now, the state does not keep track of the number of abandoned babies turned over to safe havens.

Division of Child and Family Services officials know of three babies saved by the law, but there could be more. News reports about the baby turned in at the Las Vegas fire station said it was the first one saved under the safe haven law.

But Rawson said the actual number is much higher.

"All I know is I am contacted several times a year and told a child has been saved," he said. "I am pleased it has saved some lives. It has accomplished what we wanted."

Mastroluca would like to see the state keep records of babies turned over to safe havens.

"I would like to see the state keep track of information (about baby abandonments and deaths)," Mastroluca said. "Right now we don't know if the law is working or not."

As a member of the Junior League in 2001, Mastroluca worked on the safe haven bill. She also worked on a campaign to help publicize the new law.

Forty-one states have safe haven laws. The law passed in Nebraska in 2008 came under fire because it allowed children of all ages to be turned over to safe havens.

Nearly three dozen children were given to safe havens in that state within a few weeks, including teenagers. The law quickly was changed to apply only to infants, like the Nevada law.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.