Baby Girl Safely Surrendered to Santa Monica Hospital

SANTA MONICA, CA - A newborn girl was safely turned over to a Santa Monica hospital this week under the Safe Surrender Program, a county supervisor announced .

The child was surrendered on Monday, according to the office of county Supervisor Don Knabe, who championed the Safe Surrender Program's enactment in 2001.

It was the second baby surrendered in Los Angeles County this year and 144th to be turned over since the program's inception, according to Knabe. Another baby girl was turned over to a hospital in Los Angeles on March 7.

"I am thrilled that in the span of a week, two mothers made the better choice and gave their daughters a second chance at life by safely surrendering them at the hospital," Knabe said.

Under the county's Safe Surrender law, a parent or guardian is allowed to surrender an infant who is no more than three days old at a hospital or fire station without repercussions if the baby shows no sign of abuse.

A 33-year-old woman who abandoned her newborn daughter the day after Thanksgiving near Compton Creek was sentenced Wednesday to 14 years in state prison.

That baby was rescued by sheriff's deputies who responded to a report of a baby crying.

Knabe called the Compton case "a near-tragedy that could have been completely avoided had the mother known she could safely surrender her baby."

--City News Service, photo via Pixabay