Church Not Deemed a Safe Haven

November 21, 9:04 PMSan Diego Parenting ExaminerSondra Santos LaBrie

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Clark Stevens and daughter Mariah

Baby Mariah is being raised in a safe and loving environment, thanks to her paternal grandmother who has been taking care of her since she was abandoned by her mother at Steel Lake Presbyterian Church in Federal Way, Washington in early October.

Charged with child abandonment, 22-year-old Sarah M. Christianson plead not guilty and claims she wasn't aware of the safe haven laws in Washington state. Sarah not only hid her pregnancy from her ex-boyfriend, but also kept it from her family and friends.

Mariah's father, Clark Stevens, 24, flew home from his military training to meet his newborn daughter just weeks after she was born. While Clark is now in Iraq for 10 months, his mother and family will provide a loving home for Mariah and create a stable environment for her to grow up in. Stevens has full custody.

Safe haven laws are different from state to state, but most allow for newborns, only, to be left anonymously with personnel at fire stations and hospitals.

The state of Nebraska has been under scrutiny over the last few months after a father abandoned his nine children at Creighton University Medical Center, ranging from age one to seventeen.

Nearly 35 children have been abandoned in the state of Nebraska since mid-September and nearly every one of them came from a single-parent household.

Support for parents and single parents, especially, is important to our community and to the health and future of all children. Are you familiar with safe haven laws in your state? Chances are, parents who wait until the last minute to decide where to leave leave their infant, like Sarah, don't know the laws or have resources to learn about them.

How can we support single moms, teenage parents and others dealing with unplanned or unwanted pregnancies? I believe we need to start with educating our youth about contraception and safe sex at an early age. What do you suggest?