Legislation to expand Florida's “sanctuary” policy now awaits Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' signature after passing the state legislature.
Existing “shelter” law makes it legal to surrender unwanted infants, provided they are abandoned unharmed at certain drop-off locations, including hospitals and fire stations.
The expanded bill would give women 30 days to drop off the newborn, up from the current seven days. The bill would also authorize 911 dispatchers to arrange a drop-off location for babies in cases where the child's parents do not have transportation to an agency's drop-off location.
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Existing “shelter” law makes it legal to surrender unwanted infants, provided they are abandoned unharmed at certain drop-off locations, including hospitals and fire stations. (Safe Haven Baby Boxes)
“I think deep down people just wanted to give moms more time. And other states have 30 days, and that's really a positive thing,” said Nick Silverio, CEO of A Safe Haven for Newborns , at Fox 13.”[The mother] could be postpartum. She may have a medical condition that caused her to have the baby… it just gives her more time.”
An adoption agency in St. Petersburg, Fla., said it's the perfect time to expand the law, after the Sunshine State's six-week abortion ban took effect.
“I think we'll see with the six weeks [abortion] ban, we will see an increase. I've worked in child welfare for over 30 years, and we're going to see an increase in the number of children coming into care,” Connie Going of Going Adoption and Surrogacy told Fox 13.
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Legislation to expand Florida's “sanctuary” policy now awaits Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' signature. ((Photo by SERGIO FLORES/AFP via Getty Images))
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“I think we’re going to see an increase in adoptions,” she continued. “I think we're going to see an increase in parenting, which means we as communities need to step up and provide services that support families.”
The bill comes after a baby was found dead last week in a trash can on the University of Tampa campus. The mother told police she delivered the baby in her dorm bathroom, where the child briefly cried before dying, according to court records, Fox 13 reported.
The mother initially said she did not know she was pregnant, but later told police she may have denied she was not pregnant and had not had her period since about a year.