Palo Alto Fire Capt. Rich Dean says he hopes that if a desperate mother is thinking of discarding her newborn in a Dumpster or alley, she'll realize there's an alternative.
"Hopefully it will sink in that the fire station is a place to bring your baby without getting in trouble," Dean said. "Your neighborhood firehouse may be less threatening than the E.R."
Palo Alto's fire stations held training sessions Thursday for about 90 firefighters and paramedics to designate the stations as "Safe Surrender Sites," where mothers or other adults can hand over newborns without facing criminal charges.
In 2001, California passed a law allowing parents to confidentially drop off a newborn who is 72 hours old or younger at a hospital emergency room or at other sites designated by authorities -- no questions asked. Santa Clara County began adding firehouses to the list this summer, followed soon after by San Jose.
Judy Jewell, Palo Alto's interim fire chief, said she's excited to get the program started in her city.
"We would much rather deal with a newborn in this fashion than finding the baby that has been disposed of," Jewell said. "If we save one child, it's worth it."
In a spare conference room at Fire Station 6 on the Stanford campus, Jewell whipped through protocols for firefighters and paramedics, from communicating with moms to shuttling newborns to local hospitals.
Jewell ticked off a set of rules to follow: Firefighters, first, should slip a plastic identification band on the baby's ankle and on the adult, who has a right to reclaim the baby within two weeks. The person depositing the child should be urged -- but not required -- to fill out medical forms, which will be available in Russian, Spanish and other languages, Jewell said. The child should quickly be taken to a hospital, and police should be alerted if they detect signs of abuse such as bruises or cuts.
To get the word out about the new program, the department plans to plaster firehouses, trains and bus stations with informational posters depicting a baby cradled in cupped hands. Palo Alto's fire stations have for years been designated as "safe houses" where runaways can seek protection, and many children already have taken refuge there, Jewell said.
Some medical experts say it is unclear whether such a program can effectively prevent a murderous impulse sparked by acute postpartum depression, a syndrome that can create a temporary psychosis in women who have recently given birth.
From January 2001, when the state began allowing parents to drop off unwanted infants without prosecution, through October, 67 babies around California have been surrendered safely. But 107 newborns have been found alive and abandoned in hazardous situations, such as in garbage bins or outside in freezing weather. The state does not track abandoned children who have been found dead, said Shirley Washington, a spokeswoman for the state department of social services.
Jewell said the training exercises have special meaning in Palo Alto, where police this summer discovered a day-old baby dead in an alleyway. That infant allegedly was abandoned by hotel maid Maria Ana Quinones, who is set to enter a plea Dec. 16 on charges of felony child abuse and murder.
Quinones, 22, is accused of smothering her baby and placing his swaddled body in the shrubs near the Palo Alto Days Inn motel where she worked. Construction workers discovered the body in a plastic bag July 8.
Less than two weeks after Quinones was arrested, on July 18, another woman was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after her former landlady found the body of a baby in a Palo Alto apartment she had abandoned in April. Authorities believe Ophelia Vanider Hill, 31, to be the mother of the baby, which the coroner's office reported to be full-term and to have been dead about two years. Vanider Hill was released shortly afterward when authorities said they did not have enough evidence to charge her with a crime.
Firefighter Susan Minshall, who attended Thursday's training, said it will be a challenge to advertise the department as a refuge for panic-stricken new mothers.
But she hopes word will spread.
"This gives people a deterrent," said Minshall, 43. "I would be very grateful if a mom came to the door, because that person shouldn't be a parent."
