Safe havens for “unwanted” babies open in Edmonton
EDMONTON, AB—Two Catholic-run hospitals in Edmonton now offer safe havens where mothers in distress can leave "unwanted" newborns in complete anonymity and without fear of criminal prosecution.
The Angel Cradles, as they are called, are compartments built into an outside wall of the Misericordia and Grey Nuns Community hospitals, next to their emergency departments. When a baby is placed in a bassinet, an alarm sounds inside to alert staff.
Gordon Self, vice president of mission, ethics and spirituality at Covenant Health, the Catholic organization that runs both hospitals, says they hope women who cannot cope with having a baby to look after will choose to leave the child in their safe care.
"We're trying to manage that gap," he says, "where in a moment of desperation, they have nowhere to turn, or they've been hiding their pregnancy, and then is at risk of leaving that baby somewhere unsafe"—such as in a dumpster or a back alley.
Doctors will examine the child, and if there are no signs of harm or abuse, the hospital is not required to inform the authorities, including the police. The baby would then be placed in the care of Alberta Child and Family Services and put up for adoption.
Covenant Health began looking into Angel Cradle shortly after St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver, which is also Catholic-run, became the first in Canada to open a safe haven for infants in 2010.
Since then, only one baby has ever been left there. Self says they would not be disappointed if theirs were never used.
"That's not a bad thing," he says. "If we had one baby left there this year, it's not like next year we're going to try to get our numbers up. If there's even one person that's saved, that's prevented from harm, that's a success."
Self says he expects more hospitals elsewhere in Canada will undertake similar projects in future, "whether they're faith-based or not."
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