Contact: Jeff Barbosa
(916) 319-2020

SACRAMENTO – Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico’s (D-Newark) bill to give a parent up to seven days to drop off a baby at a designated safe surrender site was overwhelmingly approved 64 to 6 today by the state Assembly.  The bill next goes to the Governor. 

Assembly Bill 2262, approved with bipartisan support in both houses, incorporates recommendations made by a state audit concluded earlier this year.  The audit was conducted after a request by Torrico.  It found many problems with the safe surrender law primarily because no agency felt it had authority to administer it.  AB 2262 will improve data collection, reporting and monitoring, all problems found in the state audit.  It will direct the Department of Social Services to oversee the program.

Passage of the bill comes after three cases of abandoned babies in just the past week, in Stockton, Apple Valley and Los Angeles.

“This bill will help save the lives of babies around the state,” Torrico said.  “Some of these mothers in the past week were overwhelmed and unable to handle the birth of their child.  In two of these cases, the mothers abandoned their children in inappropriate ways, but in a manner that showed they were concerned about the newborns’ well-being.  Extending the deadline may reduce the impulsive nature of many of these abandonments and give women more time to think through their decisions.”

Currently under the law, a parent can drop off a baby up to 72 hours old to a designated safe surrender site.  The mother and newborn are given identical I.D. bracelets and the parent has 14 days before their parental rights expire.  There is no criminal liability enforced on a parent for safely surrendering their child.

Torrico’s bill would allow a parent up to seven days to drop off their baby.  The extension would also help mothers who may be suffering from post partum depression or experiencing other barriers preventing them from safely surrendering their child under the deadline.

Since the law went into effect, more than 200 babies have been safely surrendered, but over 400 have been abandoned.