BABY DUMP NEWS, April 18, 2007—v7 #16
April 18, 2007 – 1:02 pm
BABY DUMP NEWS:
A WEEKLY E-CHRONICLE OF NEWBORN ABANDONMENT
INFANTICIDE,
SAFE HAVEN LEGISLATION
AND RELATED ISSUES
April 18 , 2007–v7 #16
Distributed weekly by:
Marley Elizabeth Greiner, Executive Chair, Bastard Nation
Disclaimer: Some newspapers keep articles on 7-14 days (or less) free access and then forward them to paid archives. Please feel free to send articles and websites of interest to maddogmarley@worldnet.att.net
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READ: The Daily Bastardette, safe haven and adoption commentary,
http://bastardette.blogspot.com
THANKS: Kim, Jim, Elizabeth
***THIS WEEK***
FLORIDA–Legislature wants to expand SH time
MINNESOTA–Knew about SH; teen stabs newborn 135 times
NEW YORK–Lucila Rojas indicted on 2nd degree murder and other charges
WASHINGTON–Baby Dawn buried
SOMALIA–Maygoma scheduled to close by end of month
…and more!
***STATES***
CALIFORNIA
Orange County Register, April 13, 2007
Pat Michaels: Spreading the message of Project Cuddle
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/local/costamesa_newport/article_1651867.php
COSTA MESA–Project Cuddle started 10 years ago when Debbe and Dave Magnusen were concerned about drug-exposed babies for whom they were providing fostercare. Adopted 5 of them and started 24-hour hotline for “expectant mothers who would otherwise do away with their babies.” Offers anonymity, medical care, and if necessary, adoptive parents. Have rescued 565 babies. Recently featured in People Magazine and NBC Nightly News.
KNX-AM, Los Angeles, April 17, 2007
Adolescent and infant deaths slightly increase in LA County
http://www.knx1070.com/pages/365161.php?contentType=4&contentId=421142
LOS ANGELES–Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect releases new report: 33 children killed by parents, family member or caregiver in 2005; up from 30 in 2004. 55 SH cases since 2002; 1 infant found abandoned and deceased in county this year.
CONNECTICUT
WTNH-TV, New Haven, April 22, 2007
Rell urges greater awareness of safe have law
http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=6357987&nav=3YeX
MANCHESTER–Gov Jodi Rell, taking her responsibilities as the state’s “first-grandmother” seriously promotes SH. Discusses law at Manchester Memorial Hospital news conference. Since law went into effect 6 SH cases; 4 have been adopted, 1 is in foster care, and 1 is living with relatives. 4 illegal abandonments; all survive. “Dottie,” a SH adopter says, “We are raising a healthy child with a warm and secure home that will have all sorts of opportunities.
FLORIDA
CBS4-TV, Miami, April 17, 2007
Lawmakers want to extend time in safe haven law
http://cbs4.com/topstories/local_story_107123348.html
TALLAHASSEE–Amendment added to adoption bill HB 599 that would extend drop-off period from 3 to 7 days passes unanimously by House Healthcare Council.
ILLINOIS
Lake County News-Sun, April 17, 2007
Big baby shower for safe haven
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/news/343870,5_1_WA17_BIGBABY_S1.article
GURNEE–For 2nd year students from Warren Twn High School and Gurnee-area elementary schools team with Gurnee Exchange Club to collect baby items for Gurnee’s Largest Baby Shower. Event used to support and promote SH. Goods dropped off at fire and police stations.
MINNESOTA
WCCO-TV, Minneapolis, April 13, 2007
Teen accused of stabbing newborn 135 times
http://wcco.com/local/local_story_102183113.html
OAKDALE–Nicole Marie Beecroft, 17, charged with 1st degree murder. Allegedly gave birth at home, stabbed baby 135 times, put body in garbage bag with knife, and dropped it in trash. Anon tipster told police a cashier at Cub Foods have given birth to a stillborn infant and threw it in garbage. Police say Beecroft told them she saw baby’s finger move, panicked and killed her.
St. Paul Pioneer Press, April 13, 2007
Cops: Mom stabbed newborn 135 times
http://www.twincities.com/local/ci_5655866?nclick_check=1
OAKDALE–Review of case. Beecroft first claimed baby was stillborn. Comments from school friend and neighbors who complained that Beecroft’s family had noisy visitors day and night. Described as a “typical lost teenager.” Police have questioned baby’s father. Additional news: Bond set at $1 million.
WCCO-TV, Minneapolis, April 13, 2007
Safe Haven Law would have been option for teen
http://wcco.com/topstories/local_story_103224119.html
MINNEAPOLIS–Sibley High School students say the are unaware of law. SH information should be part of curriculum. “If it’s posters in all the girls bathroom, talking about it, keeping open discussions working with the public health to spread the message,” says school nurse Jenny Munson. 15 SH cases since 2000; all adopted.
St. Paul Pioneer Press, April 14, 2007
$1M bail sent for mom accused of killing baby
http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ci_5662691?nclick_check=1
OAKDALE–Beecroft bond set at $1M. Judge refuses to release her to family and says she can receive psychological help while she’s held in juvenile detention center. Family and friends cry during hearing.
(Willmar) West Central Tribune, April 18, 2007
Police: Oakwood teen had been told of “safe haven” law
http://www.wctrib.com/ap/index.cfm?page=view&id=D8OJ3D780&forumcomm_check_return
OAKWOOD–Police say classmate told Nicole Beecroft about SH a week before birth and offered to drive her to hospital . Esther Wattenberg, U of MN professor who sits on child-mortality review committee says she doesn’t know why more teens don’t take advantage of law.
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune, April 18, 2007
Editorial: A teen’s dark dread, a baby’s lost life
http://www.startribune.com/561/story/1129734.html
MINNEAPOLIS-ST.PAUL–Review of case. “Secret suffering shrinks when shared, the kids were told–and crisis is best handled with help. Wise counsel, but too late for the senior who now faces murder charges. Still, her story highlights the need for frank acknowledgement of the shame that can invade adolescence. Speaking of the unspeakable could be the best hope for reaching the rare soul harboring a potentially lethal secret.”
NEW YORK
Massapequa Post, April 11, 2007
Walk-a-thon to benefit AMT Children of Hope Foundation April 14
http://www.massapequapost.com/news/2007/0411/Events_&_Calendar/018.html
MASSAPEQUA—Nassau District Eastern Star will hold 7th Annual Walk-a-Thon to benefit AMT-Children of Hope.
Empire State News, April 13, 2007
Grand jury charges mother with murder in death of two-week old son
http://www.empirestatenews.net/News/20070413-6.html
QUEENS—-Update on Lucila Rojas case (BDN v7 #2, 3, 6). Queens County Grand Jury indicts Rojas for 2nd degree murder in suffocation death of son. 2 counts of 2nd degree murder (intentional and reckless), 1 count of tampering with physical evidence, 1 count of abandonment of a child, 1 count of falsely reporting an incident in the 3rd degree, 1 count of endangering the welfare of a child, and 2 violations of public health law for falling to provide decent burial and disposing of body without a permit. Faces up to 25 years in prison.
VIRGINIA
Rocktown Weekly, April 13, 2007
Authorities to review baby case
http://www.rocktownweekly.com/news_details.php?AID=9755&CHID=1
HARRISONBURG–Update on Rockingham County landfill case (BDN v7 #5, 6, 8). Authorities plan to evaluate case and decide what to do with woman who reported she left newborn in trashbin; no body found.
WASHINGTON
Kitsap Sun, April 12, 2007
“Tomb of the Unknown Child” – Baby Dawn is laid to rest
PORT ORCHARD–Update on Baby Dawn case (BDN v6 #15; v7 #15). Account of funeral; about 35 attend. Picture.
KOMO-TV, Seattle, April 13, 2007
Abandoned baby given proper burial
http://www.komotv.com/news/7000262.html
PORT ORCHARD–Short account of funeral. Picture.
***INTERNATIONAL***
BAHRAIN
Gulf Daily News, April 18, 2007
Mum “tried to kill newborn baby”
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=179514&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=30029
BAHRAIN–Indian woman who allegedly tried to kill newborn by throwing it onto neighbor’s roof arrested; Confesses to sponsor.
BELGIUM
Expatica, April 13, 2007
Newborn found in canal
http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=24&story_id=38706
KAMPENHOUT–Cyclist finds body of newborn with advanced state of decay in canal
ENGLAND
Enfield Independent, April 18, 2007
Baby killer is spared prison
LONDON–Update on Patricia DeCarvalho Braga case. (BDN v7 #2), Braga gets 51 week sentence suspended for 2 years and supervised probation. Braga, a Brazilian visiting parents in London, hid pregnancy, gave birth in garden shed. Wrapped baby’s head in cello tape and placed her in unused freezer. Already had 3 children and was afraid of another asking “Where’s my daddy?” court told.
SPAIN
Think Spain News, April 12, 2007
Dead baby found hidden inside cupboard
http://www.thinkspain.com/news-spain/12934
MADRID–Police find body of newborn wrapped in pair of trousers inside bathroom cabinet. Suspected mother is 23-year old Bolivian woman who went to hospital for treatment.
SOMALIA
Toronto Star, April 15, 2007
Saving Khartoum’s abandoned babies
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/203256
KHARTOUM–Informative long feature on Maygoma Institute. Sharia demands that a woman who gives birth out of wedlock receive 100 lashes, so women hide pregnancies and abandon babies in street . Babies who survived were sent to Maygoma Institute, which had an 84% mortality rate. “Most (caregivers) saw the babies as expendable products of sin, and if five or six died in a night because the duty nurse had slept through their feeding times, it was shrugged off as the will of God,” writes Canadian diplomat Nicholas Coghlan in his book Far in the Waste Sudan. When word leaked out about conditions at Maygoma in late 2002, police, social workers doctors, imans worked together; British aid agency Hope and Homes for Children worked with them. “Sharia law isn’t about harming babies,” says Abdullah Ibrahim, director general of social affairs for the state of Khartoum. Programs developed to assist not punish unmarried mothers; hospitals persuaded to provide emergency care for abandoned babies and to allow mothers to leave them there instead of the street. Inmans issued fatwa that interpreted sharia law to mean that a judge or police cannot order an unwed mother to be lashed; it’s mother’s choice of whether or not to be punished for her sin. Fatwa also said child is better off staying with mother , and if it can’t, the state must pay for alternative family to care for child. Had no legal effect since Sudanese law is based on another interpretation of sharia. Fatwa, however, lays groundwork for legal reform. Large population of Sudanese women are sterile due to genital mutilation; they might adopt if stigma of illegitimacy is eased. Adopter must make commitment not to allow procedure on girls placed with them. Since mid-20004 more than 2000 children placed in alternative family program; of them 163 reunited with mothers. Another 227 kept. Rate of street abandonment dropped drastically. Maygoma scheduled to close on or about April 30
UGANDA
Kampala New Vision, April 15, 2007
Woman arrested for dumping baby
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/18/559942
BUSHHENYL DISTRICT–Sarah Natukunda, 20, arrested for dumping newborn in pit latrine Claims she didn’t know she was pregnant and the baby fell into the latrine “unknowingly” Has twins from first husband; separated from 2nd husband. Picture.
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