Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe is pleased to announce the County’s Safe Surrender Program celebrated another success with the report of a safely surrendered newborn, the seventh in 2010. This most recent safe surrender occurred on New Years Eve at a hospital in Pasadena. On Christmas Eve a baby was also safely surrendered at Los Angeles Fire Department Station 46, near the Coliseum. As is standard practice, both babies are in protective custody and will be placed with families approved for adoption by the Department of Children and Family Services.
“What better way to begin a new year than with the hope of life for two newborns,” said Supervisor Knabe. “As word spreads about the Program, a mother in a desperate situation can make the right choice for her baby, because of Safe Surrender.”
The New Years Eve Safe Surrender was the seventh in Los Angeles County in 2010, and the 83rd since the program began nine 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.