Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe is pleased to announce that a baby girl was safely surrendered at a hospital in the City of Long Beach yesterday.

The newborn Hispanic female was surrendered at a hospital in Long Beach and was reported to be in good health. As is standard practice, the baby girl is in protective custody and will eventually be placed with a family approved for adoption by the Department of Children and Family Services.

I want to thank this newborn’s mother for doing the right thing, said Supervisor Knabe. We have a law on the books to protect babies from abandonment and give the mother a safe, secure and anonymous way to get her child into safe hands. It is still our goal that 2008 will be the first year with no abandoned newborns.

This is the fifth Safe Surrender in Los Angeles County in 2008 and the 67th Safe Surrender since the program began seven years ago. 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.