More than 40 families gathered at Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles on the afternoon of Monday, March 9, to dedicate a new “Garden of Life” commemorating the 126 babies who were given up by their anonymous birth mothers and adopted as part of the County’s Safe Surrender program.
A Safe Surrender baby plants her lavender flower in the new Garden of Life.
The garden is designed to “honor all the lives that have been saved and all the families that have been created” through the program, according to Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe.
“We wouldn’t be here tonight if it weren’t for the 126 mothers who had the courage to make that decision” to hand over their infants, Knabe said.
Since the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the program in 2001, 126 infants have been safely surrendered in the county. The program is designed to protect newborns from being hurt or killed because of abandonment by allowing a parent or legal guardian to confidentially hand over a 3-day-old or younger infant to any hospital emergency room, fire station or other designated Safe Surrender site.
As long as the baby has not been abused or neglected, the parent or guardian may surrender the infant without fear of arrest or prosecution for child abandonment.
A Safe Surrender family waits for the program to begin.
“Safe Surrender is a program that gives life,” said Knabe. “This garden is dedicated to all the newborns who have been saved and the families that have been created. The flowers in this ‘Garden of Life’ will grow just as the 125 children have blossomed and they will continue to bloom, honoring future Safe Surrender babies.”
In addition to dedicating the garden, where Safe Surrender families planted 125 lavender plants, Knabe on Monday announced the creation of a Safe Surrender Scholarship Fund.
“Every single Safe Surrender baby … will qualify for an academic scholarship when they turn 17 years old,” he said.
Since the Safe Surrender program’s inception, the number of abandoned babies who were not safely surrendered in Los Angeles County has dropped from 14 in 2001 to one in 2013 and two in 2014.
In contrast, nine babies were safely surrendered in 2013 and 11 in 2014. Two babies in 2015 have been safely surrendered, and one baby was abandoned.
For more information about Safe Surrender, visit babysafeLA.org.
More than 40 Safe Surrender families gather at Grand Park to plant lavender flowers commemorating 126 babies safely surrendered by their birth mothers and adopted. Photo courtesy Office of Supervisor Don Knabe.
Photos by Nicole Mooradian / LACoFD.
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