04/02/2002

By DOUG IRVING, kgw.com Staff

Baby Star was about six hours old and cold, wrapped only in a gray sweatshirt and abandoned outside the old Starbucks café at Legacy Emanuel Hospital.

Hospital nurses took her in, fed her and warmed her. They cringed at the thought that Baby Star could just as easily have ended up in a dumpster.

On Wednesday, a day before Baby Star celebrates her fourth birthday, the nurses proudly showed off her baby pictures in support of a new state law to protect abandoned babies. The law allows parents to leave their babies with trained health workers, no questions asked.

Nurse Jennifer Bissett shows off her pictures of "Baby Star," the abandoned newborn who lent her name and story to the new law. (kgw.com Photo)

“I wanted people to have a real face, a real baby,” said Jennifer Bissett, the nurse who spent 12 hours a day caring for Baby Star. “It makes it real for people.”

Two Babies Abandoned Each Year

Oregon’s law is one of the broadest in the nation, allowing parents to leave a baby as old as 30 days. Desperate parents can take their babies to hospitals, health centers and police and fire stations across the state.

The law carries no extra funding, and rural fire departments in particular have worried about their ability to care for a baby. But the Oregon Department of Human Services points out that only two children are abandoned statewide in an average year.

In the past four years, only two of the babies abandoned in Oregon have died, said Kathy Ledesma, the program manager of the state’s Adoptions Services Unit. Most of the others were found with serious medical problems and nursed back to health.

State Rep. Kathy Lowe holds a newborn baby after publicizing a law meant to protect abandoned babies that she co-sponsored. (kgw.com Photo)

Workers to Check for Abuse

State leaders cautioned that the new law does not give parents an open invitation to ditch their unwanted children. Health workers have trained to recognize obvious signs of abuse before accepting a baby. They also have studied developmental signs – such as teeth and walking – that can tip off a baby’s age.

A flyer distributed to “safe-place” workers warns, “You may receive an infant at any time, with no prior notice.” It instructs workers to check the baby and immediately call police if they find any signs of abuse.

Parents give up their parental rights by handing over their baby. They will leave with a letter asking them to anonymously supply the baby’s medical history. They also can attend juvenile-court hearings and leave their name if they choose.

At least 14 other states have adopted similar laws, though most apply only to babies a few days old. Those states have had trouble publicizing their laws, and still find babies abandoned in dumpsters and ditches.

Their experience suggests that parents do not use the looser rules as an “easy way out” of parenthood, the law’s sponsors said.

”We’re not promoting child abuse here,” said Sen. Peter Courtney, who also co-sponsored the law. “We’re not promoting promiscuity. We’re trying to prevent some newborn from ending up in a dumpster.”

Baby Star: 'The Outcome We're Looking For.'

Baby Star lent her face and her story to the legislative push for the new law.

A hospital visitor discovered her on a sunny Sunday afternoon four years ago. He stopped a nurse and told her, “One of your babies is out at the coffee bar.” The newborn baby was hypothermic, lying on a chair outside of the hospital maternity ward.

The nurses nicknamed her “Baby Star” because she was abandoned near the hospital’s Starbucks. She stayed at Legacy Emanuel for just three days, but Bissett still keeps her pictures on the desk in her living room, next to those of her two teenagers.

The nurses haven’t seen Baby Star since she was adopted as a nine-month-old. They’re not even sure she still lives in Portland.

“This is the outcome we’re looking for,” Bissett said, holding up Baby Star’s framed picture. “This is the outcome we want to see, rather than in the trash.”

The new law took affect in January, but has not yet been used. The state has printed 2,000 informational posters to hang in health centers across the state. They advertise: No identifying questions asked; No judgment or shame; No one needs to know.

“Look, please, (if) you’re life’s terrible, you’re a wreck, will you just please, please, please bring it to a fire department?” Courtney said. “Just leave it. We’re not out to get you.”