2008 Press Release: Des Plaines - One of the First in Illinois Prepared to Save Newborns

For immediate release
August 1, 2008

The Save Abandoned Babies Foundation (SAB) announced Des Plaines, Illinois to be among the first 100 Illinois towns in compliance with a law passed August 17, 2007. This law (SB0335) requires that all Illinois hospitals, fire stations, police stations, and sheriff offices that are "Safe Havens" to post regulated signs on the exterior of the building in a conspicuous location. These new signs indicate where a parent who cannot care for a newborn infant (up to 7 days old) can anonymously relinquish the unharmed baby to a staff member without fear of prosecution for abandonment. The law gives parents in crisis a safe, legal, confidential and anonymous option to unsafe abandonment in their babies’ first days of life, when infants are most at risk of being killed or abandoned illegally.

"The 100 towns in compliance demonstrate that Illinois municipalities take the Safe Haven law seriously," said SAB President Penny Green. "Their efforts not only help save newborn lives but offer a safety net to a desperate parent in crisis. With 44 safely relinquished infants, and another 49 unsafe abandonment’s since the law was passed in 2001, we need every Save Haven to follow the example of these first 100 towns, to be in compliance and educate their communities."

"Protecting children is a shared, community responsibility," said DCFS spokesperson Kendall Marlowe. "We thank the many Safe Havens across the state who have stepped up to make their communities a safe place for these precious young lives."

"Save Abandoned Babies" signage has been placed at the Des Plaines Police Station, 1418 Miner Street; Fire Station #1, 405 S. River Road; Fire Station #2,1313 E. Oakton Street; Fire Station #3, 130 E. Thacker Street; and Des Plaines City Hall, 1420 Miner Street. More information is available at www.SaveAbandonedBabies.org or by calling the Foundation at 312-440-0229.

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