ROCK HILL, S.C. — A baby boy was surrendered in Rock Hill at the Piedmont Medical Center Wednesday.
He is the eighth baby to be surrendered this year in South Carolina under a safe haven law.
Hospitals like Piedmont Medical Center are safe havens that allow parents to surrender their newborns if they must make that difficult decision. Police and fire stations are also considered safe havens.
"They can safely surrender the child without penalty, as long as the child has not been harmed," Connelly-Anne Ragley with the S.C. Department of Social Services said.
This year has seen the highest number on record of babies surrendered in South Carolina, but Ragley said it’s still a rare occurrence. Seven newborns were surrendered in 2022 and five were surrendered in 2021.
The 2001 South Carolina safe haven provision is called Daniel’s Law – named after a baby who was abandoned in Allendale County.
"He had been thrown away, unfortunately, and when the emergency responders found him he was covered in trash and dirty and had ant bites all over him," Ragley explained. "The first responders and the nurses that nursed him back to health named him Daniel."
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Infants surrendered under Daniel’s Law cannot be older than 60 days.
"DSS places the child in a licensed foster home and also a permanency planning hearing is scheduled and that is where the process for adoption begins," Ragley added.
Many states like North Carolina have similar laws. The goal is to save babies’ lives.
"I think we're up to around 60 infants that have been voluntarily surrendered in South Carolina. I kind of look at it, that’s 60 lives we've saved," said York County representative Raye Felder.
Felder added that there are efforts in the General Assembly to speed up the legal process to terminate the parental rights of abandoned babies. "We want to make the process move faster so these children have a permanent home sooner."
Felder said she would also support an effort to raise the age limit of surrendered babies to six months or a year.
It’s rare for infants to be surrendered, but Ragley said there are dozens of children looking for a home right now. "Our greatest need at the agency is for adoptive homes for older children."
This most recently surrendered baby is not available for adoption yet, but Ragley said there are 149 children in South Carolina who are.
Contact Julia Kauffman at jkauffman@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.