Do abandoned children need an identity?

[Pat McCotter]

Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch
Identities of abandoned babies still a mystery
By Mark Bowes
Published: December 28, 2009

Two newborn babies found abandoned two months apart in Henrico and Chesterfield counties are now in the adoption pipeline as police continue efforts to locate their birth parents.

The identities of both infants remain a mystery.

The first child, a black male, was discovered naked Aug. 27 on the front lawn of a home in the 4400 block of Samara Drive in Henrico. The second child, a white female, was found Oct. 19 inside a Ukrop's shopping bag at a school bus stop in the 700 block of Vickilee Court in Chesterfield.

Police have not been able to locate either child's birth mother.

Henrico officials are seeking to terminate the parental rights of the biological mother and father so the boy can be placed for adoption.

The police investigation is at a standstill.

The baby, in good health, was probably less than a day old when he was found, officials said. He was given a name and placed in a foster home until he can be adopted.

"It's still an active and open case," said Henrico police Lt. Eric Owens. "But unless there are any new developments, we can't go further."

Like Henrico, Chesterfield social-services officials are "proceeding with the steps toward adoption" for the girl in their care, said Suzanne Fountain, the department's assistant director.

But Chesterfield police haven't stopped looking for the child's parents.

Investigators have obtained copies of dozens of birth records from the Virginia Division of Vital Records for all children born in the Richmond region within several weeks of the girl's estimated birth. Authorities believe the child may have been as old as three weeks when she was found and could have been delivered in a medical facility.

"We've got a lot of births in the area that we're looking into," said Chesterfield police Sgt. Ed Wessel. "We're slowly going through the process . . . of trying to verify that those children are accounted for."

The girl, found in good health, was wrapped in several small blankets and a woman's white skirt and placed in the grocery bag, which was left in a yard near a mailbox in front of a home. Authorities believe the child was intentionally left in a place where she would be found quickly.

Unlike Henrico, Chesterfield authorities released several photos of the child soon after she was found, with the goal of generating tips about her parents' identities.

Fountain renewed her earlier pleas for the child's mother, father or both -- or someone who knows them -- to come forward so the infant won't struggle through life without a clear identity. The baby needs information that only her biological parents possess, Fountain said.

"The single message that I would want to go out . . . is that anybody who knows anything about this child should come forward so that this child can have an identity, know her family history, and medical history when she needs it and grows up," Fountain said.

[cathleeninnh]

I think it is good to keep looking. There may be family interested in taking the children in.

Cathleen

[Pat McCotter]

The other side is that the parents are liable to criminal charges because they didn't use the Safe Haven laws.

[Praeteridiot]

From what I remember/from my vantage point, California CPS would just name the babies themselves, terminate parental rights (after the fact) and get on with things...babby goes in babby clothes, babby eat food, paperwork gets filled out, on and on.  Which doesn't sound too different from what the article said was happening with these children.  The boy's already in a foster home and it leaves out whether the girl is, but I chalk that up to poor writing.

The last line of the article mentions medical history.  Bastard Nation has an interesting take against those safe haven laws.

[Pat McCotter]

Unsealing adoption records should take into account the privacy of the birth parents. If the adopted is looking for medical history, fine, get the history but do not give names and/or addresses.

I have researched my family tree and understand people's desire to find out their history but I also understand other people's desires to keep the government out of their lives. The government doesn't need the information.

[Praeteridiot]

Unsealing adoption records should take into account the privacy of the birth parents. If the adopted is looking for medical history, fine, get the history but do not give names and/or addresses.
I have researched my family tree and understand people's desire to find out their history but I also understand other people's desires to keep the government out of their lives. The government doesn't need the information.

There is a huge difference in wanting the medical history and wanting identity.  I can't claim to have been the super-libertarian everyone's supposed to be as a kid when I wanted the identity of one of my parents; nor could I conclude that accepting when I was a kid that I couldn't have it was a good thing for me--medical history really only entered my mind occassionally as a teenager.  I agree that the government doesn't need the information, but the bastard (or his/her own child) does.  From what I've seen of that site, the government or government subsidized adoption agency, orphanage, simply have the information/records and either codified politics or personal/social issues with out of wedlock pregnancy (churches that don't give out the information) are what's keeping the information from the bastards.

But either way with the "please drop baby off so baby doesn't die no questions asked" laws, the entire issue if moot since when they are followed, and the baby is dropped off at a police station or whatever, there is no information taken.  It's only when people nearly make the baby dead by putting it in the trash that there's a search for someone to prosecute and hence a name.

[Pat McCotter]

Yes, the two cases in VA were outside the safe haven parameters and fortunately they ended well for the babies.

I don't like that we have government run adoption programs but...

I don't care why the birth parents give the kid up for adoption. If the kid wants to find out who they are, I would like the agency to be able relay the message to them. If the birth parents say "Leave me alone," then live with it.

I know you said the agencies intentionally lied about records but that is bureaucracy for you. That can only be changed by law; bureaucrats ain't gonna put their ass on the line for nobody.