But, but I don't even have a baby.
Drop by a fire station, you might be able to pick one up!
But aren't fire stations kind of heavy?
Ah, the ol' lemmy switcheroo!
TIL the US has free child care.
Where did you think firemen come from?
Toddlers are perfect for getting in all the small fiery caverns which the grown firemen can't fit into.
From what height am I allowed to drop off my child?
/s
Depends. How high are you?
;-)
What about Puerto Rico?
read the page
it says that all states, dc, and puerto rico
Reasonable. Now who's gonna bet that some dip shit in Washington makes it illegal because "mothers should face the consequences of their decisions" or some bullshit.
Call me a cynical old bitch but when the US does something reasonable I always think "how they gonna fuck it up this time?"
Reasonable for the mother. The baby is rolling the dice.
Healthy babies are in high demand for adoption, so the odds are good, but not perfect, and its a terrible system to get stuck in, at least in my state.
And people are going to use that argument to get rid of safe haven zones.
Can you drop off your baby, once a month, for a couple of hours on a date night?
Nah, I was thinking something along the lines of the Right saying that Young mothers are abandoning their kids because "they're selfish" or "they are avoiding responsibility" so some state passes a law that states that abandoned kids get DNA tested and traced back to their mothers so they can be forced to raise kids they can't afford/can't raise "to protect the family".
The US has a track record of fucking over women and girls, what with their war against contraception, abortion, adequate child care, etc. It wouldn't surprise me if the next move is "stop women giving kids up for adoption" under the guise of "protecting the family" or "personal responsibility" or some shit, but in reality is just a way to create cheap labour from underpaid women with a mouth to feed.
There is something similar called "baby hatch" in Germany, but those are usually located at hospitals. Why the fire station? It makes no sense to me.
It doesn't have to be fire stations. But they are commonly used for a few good reasons.
They're relatively ubiquitous. It shouldn't be hard for someone to locate a fire station. They're almost always staffed 24/7. They're trained on basic first aid. Quite often, they'll even have medics on staff.
Very importantly, though, they don't have a lot of people coming in and out of them. One of the big benefits of this program is that there are zero questions asked and it's as anonymous as you wish. The people who use these are often afraid they'll be judged as a failure. The lockboxes have a built-in time delay so you can leave before the station is alerted.
Fire stations are public utilities owned by local governments. Also, hospitals are regularly visited by people, whereas fire stations are more private as they mainly send out and return from dispatches.
Fire stations are more anonymous, however you can give up rights to your child at Fire Stations, Police Stations, and Hospitals (far as we know) there are even some numbers and child protection will pick them up. Reason is because they rather take the child safely than deal with well.. yk
Why the fire station?
they're staffed 24/7
Hospitals close for the night?
Fire stations are everywhere, staffed by trustworthy people, who inevitably also have medical training. Additionally they aren't scary like the police are.
They're the people you call if you need help.
You can surrender an infant at a hospital too, as well as a police station, but fire stations are just more frequent.
Hospitals in the US are kind of scattered, largely as a result of private equity tomfoolery. A lot of communities don't have one nearby. But pretty much every community has at least a volunteer fire station, and I believe all firefighters are required to be trained in at least first aid, if not be fully-qualified EMTs.
ALso they are in places that arnt easily reached too, and in busy traffic area, so not safe.
They are local to every town and always have people there
*US states
A while back I fell into the rabbit hole of people dropping off the baby without informing the other parent. turns out it's really hard to get the kid back
We learn something new every day. This is a community dedicated to informing each other and helping to spread knowledge.
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