A newborn baby boy was found dead in a duffel bag outside the N. Orleans Chicago fire station despite safety laws, police said.
Officers were called to the station in the 1000 block of North Orleans about 5 a.m. after firefighters found a boy just a few feet from the fire station. Police said that by the time he was found, he was already dead.
“If the baby was put there alive, that baby would freeze to death. That’s Chicago. It gets cold at night. You don’t get it,” said Dawn Geras of Abandoned Infant Rescue. can let the baby out with the elements,” Dawn Geras said.
It is not clear how long the baby has been outside.
After 20 years of promoting safe and public Haven law, she’s devastated by the news, says Geras.
“It makes me feel like I’ve failed. There’s another woman out there who doesn’t know the law or how to use it, and because of that, there’s a dead child on the doorstep of a burning house. “It shouldn’t have happened,” she said.
“They were so close to doing the right thing. Why didn’t they take two more steps,” she said. “I’m speechless. I don’t know what else to say. I want to scream and scream.”
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Illinois’ Safe Haven Law allows parents to put infants up for adoption by leaving them with workers in a designated safe place without question, as long as the child is uninjured and under 30 days old. Those safe places are: hospitals, urgent care facilities, police stations, and staffed fire stations.
According to the Save Abandoned Infants Foundation, since the safe haven law was passed in Illinois in 2001, 144 babies have been taken to the safe haven. Another 89 were illegally abandoned and 50% of them did not survive.
“Illinois’ Haven Safety Act is a safe way for parents who have the difficult choice to give up an infant for adoption. Entrust an infant to a Firefighter or Paramedic on duty. continuing at a fire station can help produce the safest outcome. No questions asked and no verdict made,” the CFD said in a tweet.
Illinois’ Safe Haven Law is a safe haven for parents who have difficulty giving up a newborn for adoption. Delivering an infant to a Firefighter or Paramedic directly at the firehouse can help produce the safest outcome. No questions were asked and no judgments were made.
– Chicago Fire Media (@CFDMedia) January 15, 2022
“Talk about it, tell a friend, you can save a life,” says Geras.
The Cook County medical examiner and Area 3 detectives are investigating.
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