Long Beach Hospital Receives Safely Surrendered Newborn

Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe is happy to announce that a baby girl has been safely surrendered in the City of Long Beach. The newborn girl was surrendered at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center and is reported to be in good health.

The surrender occurred on Thanksgiving Day, November 23, however it is normal for the initial report to take several days to be confirmed as meeting the legal criteria of the Safe Surrender Program. As is standard practice, the baby girl is in protective custody and has already been placed with a family approved for adoption by the Department of Children and Family Services.

I could not be more thrilled with this news, said Supervisor Knabe. This little girl has a healthy life ahead of her and she is truly a testament to the success and importance of the Safe Surrender Program.

This is the third Safe Surrender in the City of Long Beach in 2006. The previous surrenders occurred on February 24 at St. Mary’s Medical Center and on March 14 at Community Hospital. There have been a total of 11 Safe Surrenders throughout Los Angeles County in 2006 and 47 Safe Surrenders since the program began. The program was initiated by Supervisor Knabe and approved unanimously by the Board of Supervisors in 2001. It allows someone to surrender an infant that is no more than three days old, as long as the infant shows no signs of abuse.