Agree. I hope the fact that this woman is being charged with a crime doesn’t lead other desperate parents to abandon their kids in places where they are less likely to ge found, or turning to more awful alternatives. I don’t expect she was aware of the Safe Haven laws that allow a person to drop off an infant without fear of punishment or judgement—apparently all 50 states of the U.S. have a Safe Haven-type law on their respective books. I see here that Texas’ version is called the “Baby Moses Law” (because OF COURSE it would be in Texas!) and it only applies to infants 60 days or younger, in good health/unharmed, and you ARE asked to provide medical and family history at drop-off…and I think it’s a scenario where you’re permanently forfeiting/terminating parental rights (as opposed to in other states, where a mother in crisis can drop off her young children to be safely cared for while she seeks help/tries to get to a state where she can provide a stable and healthy home for her children).
EDITED TO ADD: the Safe Haven/Baby Moses Law in TX wouldn’t have applied here because the baby was 8 months old. Not quite sure why TX thinks it is acceptable to give up a younger infant but if you can’t parent an infant who’s 61 days old or more, too bad (I know that very young infants are more frequently adopted than older infants and children, that’s probably why…but still, IMO, it’s an arbitrary cutoff and frankly unconscionable).
If you have a newborn that you're unable to care for, you can bring your baby to a designated safe place with no questions asked.
abc13.com