BMH DESIGNATED AS A BABY SAFE HAVEN

Brattleboro Memorial Hospital has recently been designated as a Safe Haven. This is the program set up for a person to bring a baby, up to 30 days old, to a safe place in Vermont. The person may do so without fear of being arrested or charged, as long as the baby has not been abused or neglected. To be covered by this law, the person with the baby MUST hand it to a volunteer or employee of a Safe Haven. The baby cannot be abandoned as this will lead to criminal charges.

Now that the hospital is a designated Safe Haven, if a baby is brought to BMH, it would more than likely be taken in by a staff person in the Emergency Department or a volunteer at the front desk. All appropriate BMH staff have been trained accordingly.
The Safe Haven Bill was signed into law on May 2, 2006. This law came into effect because of a couple of very sad and unique cases:

• On May 25, 1987 a baby girl was found abandoned at a rest area off I-91 in
  Putney. She was found by a maintenance worker and rushed to the hospital
  with severe hypothermia and a body temperature of 61 degrees.
• On May 16, 1991 a state employee was out for a walk and found a baby girl
  abandoned in Hubbard Park in Montpelier. The baby was identified as a
  newborn one to three days old, weighing 4 lbs. 12 ozs.

People leaving a baby are not required to provide any information. The person receiving the infant at BMH may ask the baby’s first name and date of birth. They have the option of handing the hospital staff a completed Safe Haven form that has more detailed information on it. Once the staff member or volunteer at BMH has taken the baby, he/she is trained to call 911 and notify them that BMH has a Safe Haven baby.

For further information, you may contact, Debbie Partrick, Birthing Center Nurse Manager, at 802-257-8228.