DeFiNiTiOn Of BABY ABANDONMENT

The complexity of the issues surrounding baby abandonment is deepened by confusion about the precise definition of abandonment.

The phrase abandoned babies has been used in many different ways.

It has a specific statutory meaning in the Abandoned Infants Assistance Act (P.L. 100-505, 1988; amended in P.L. 102-236, 1991), which refers to babies who are born in hospitals but do not go home with their parents due to parental drug abuse, HIV/AIDS infection, or other child protection issues.

The phrase has a different, broader meaning in common speech, where it typically refers to babies who are not born in hospitals and are left in unsafe places by their parents.1 There is a separate group of children who are defined as abandoned by state law. The many categories of children labelled abandoned leads to confusion. Although it may be impossible to change the naming of these groups in common parlance,advocates must be aware of the potential confusion.

Recent attention to the problem of abandoned babies, and subsequent legislative remedies, are responses to the often-publicized stories of babies left in unsafe public places. Despite the lack of a clear definition, this is a clear problem.

Therefore, in this BLOG, the phrase baby abandonment refers to discarding or leaving alone, for an extended period of time, a child younger than 12 months of age in a public or private setting with the intent to dispose of the child, and abandoned babies refers to children who have been treated in this manner. This definition is not necessarily shared by all states and communities. In fact, definitions vary widely across the country.

Post by : Sharifah Nuratiqah