Hawaii’s “Baby Safe Haven” laws allow an unharmed infant to be relinquished to proper authorities without questions being asked. Mothers can leave their unwanted babies at a hospital, fire station or police station.

The difference between Safe Haven and adoption is that adoptions need legal contracts while Safe Haven arrangements do not require paperwork or contracts. If parents do not reclaim the baby, parental rights are terminated in a few months and the child can be adopted.

Once the baby is dropped off, the child is examined and given medical treatment if necessary. The Social Services Administration takes custody through Child Protective Services.

These laws exist to reduce the number of abandoned babies in Hawaii. The purpose of Safe Haven is to protect unwanted babies from being hurt or killed.

Stories of mothers who have hidden their pregnancies abound as women, fearful of what will happen if their families find out, end up abandoning their babies, sometimes dangerously.

In a recent case, Keala Simeona left her newborn baby on a beach. Simeona filed a false police report stating that she had “found” the baby on the sand after hearing screams coming from the seashore. Simeona, already a mother of a four-year-old child, hid the pregnancy from family and friends. Simeona left the newborn baby on the shores of Sandy’s Beach Park around 11:30 p.m. On Apr. 28. She later took the baby to Queen’s Medical Center.

Although Simeona abandoned her baby on the beach, she cannot be charged for violating the Safe Haven law because the baby was unharmed. However, she is being charged for filing a false police report. It is up to Family Court to decide whether to return the child to her or whether parental rights will be terminated.

Baby Safe Haven was passed for mothers who are unable to deal with the harsh reality of parenthood and to protect babies from abandonment or death.