Infant ‘Safe Surrendered’ at Diamond Bar fire station


A new mother “safe surrendered” her newborn son over to firefighters in Diamond Bar last week, authorities said Friday,
The woman first contacted Los Angeles County Fire Department Station 120, 1051 Grand Ave., by telephone on the night of Sept. 8 and asked if the station was a “Safe Surrender” site under California’s Safe Surrender Law, fire officials said in a written statement. Fire officials could hear the sounds of a baby crying in the background.
Capt. Michael Park informed the woman that the station, like all county fire stations, is a Safe Surrender site.
“Later that evening, Fire Station 120 received the mother and newborn,” according to the statement. “Following Safe Surrender procedures, the firefighters evaluated and transported the baby to local area hospital and notified the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.”
The woman was issued an ID bracelet allowing her to reclaim her child within 14 days, officials said.
“Captain Park said that is was a positive experience for their team, to see that the program does work in discouraging mothers from abandoning newborns and prevents first responders from finding babies in worse circumstances,” the statement said. “DCFS will place the baby boy in a safe, loving home, should the mother decide not to return 14 days from the day of surrender.”
Under the Safe Surrender law, parents who are unable to care for newborns are able to legally leave their children at any county hospital or fire station within 72 hours of birth, with no questions asked, so long as there are no signs of physical abuse.
For more information, call on Safe Surrender in Los Angeles County, visit www.babysafela.org or call 877-222-9273.

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