12-year-old mother's newborn is left at Fresno fire station

[Newsjock]

http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/photo/story/984551.html

A nervous young aunt presented Capt. Gregg Skaggs of Fresno Fire Station No. 16 with an unexpected in-person call this morning: a newborn boy, umbilical cord intact, born to a 12-year-old mother only hours earlier.

The aunt, who was not identified, took advantage of California’s Safe Haven Law, which establishes fire stations and hospital emergency rooms as places to leave newborns. The law says adults can drop off infants without fear of prosecution, and the anonymous aunt did so at Station 16 on Cornelia Avenue south of Ashlan Avenue before 8 a.m.

Skaggs said the infant boy was wearing a diaper and jumpsuit and was wrapped in a pink blanket. His aunt, said to be in her 20s, was nervous to the point she perspired and could barely speak, but she wanted reassurance that the baby would be all right.

“She knocked on the door and said she needed help,” Skaggs said. “She said they couldn’t care for this child, and wanted the baby to have a good life.”

[flvegan]

1. 12??

Well, on a positive note, hopefully that baby WILL have a good life.

[Midlodemocrat]

23. BabyMidlo is 12. Ask LM how ready SHE would be to raise a baby.

Dear God. This is so, so sad.

[LeftyMom]

36. Since teh Jonas Brothers are savin' it for marriage, you should be safe.

:eyes:

[Midlodemocrat]

40. .

:rofl:

[kestrel91316]

2. Time for the cops to start looking for a child rapist.

And that "mother's" family needs a serious looking at. And the 12-yr-old "mother" needs to be put in a SAFE place.

WHERE ARE THE PARENTS, that an 11 or 12 yr old gets raped and nobody does anything about it??????

[Mollis]

5. Well, she might not have been raped

I have heard of plenty of girls that start having sex that young.
Some of them purposefully wanting to get pregnant.

[Vektor]

7. The baby's father could have been another young kid also.

When I was a kid I knew a girl in town who got pregnant at 12, her boyfriend was 13.

It happens.

We really don't know the circumstances here.

[Mollis]

8. Ya, it's really sad

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. Well, but when a 12-year-old gets pregnant, it's a sign of one of two things:

1) The girl is not well-supervised. There's no way I could have gotten pregnant at 12, because my parents always knew where I was and what I was doing and which adult was in charge.

OR

2) There is an older man in the picture (often Mom's boyfriend--men who lust after really young girls tend to take up with women who have daughters of that age) who is committing statutory rape.

[AngryAmish]

25. I suspect 2., but you can't supervise a 12 year old all hours of the day

When I was that age I was only expected to be at school, work and home for supper. Other than that I was on my own. My parents were not particularly neglectful -- however the standards of parenting have been raised in the 28 years since I was 12. Most 12 year olds don't have jobs nowadays but...

Anyway, my point is parents are not automatically at fault for the stupid things their kids do.

This case, tho, is suspicious. And you are right that most of the time there is an older pervert to blame for these things. Cheers.

[LiberalHeart]

30. I think there are more choices than that.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

47. She's under the age of consent -- it's rape, not statutory rape

[kestrel91316]

15. There is NO SUCH THING as sexual consent at that age.

Even if the girl "wants" to get pregnant. It's still rape.

[Mollis]

17. What about when the guy is the same age?

It's terrible that kids do this...I wish they were more informed and knew what they were doing.

[lumberjack_jeff]

41. What if the father was 11? Is she the rapist?

There are lots of good reasons to discourage sex among kids, but to assume that a crime has been committed is a premature leap given what we know.

[TheMadMonk]

20. Would you really put your feelings ahead of the safe haven laws?

Yes the possibility exists that the child is a product of rape. But it is also possible that the father is a young teen or even preteen himself.

Infering from what was written, the woman who dropped the child off, is in all probability, the elder sister of the mother and ALSO HER GUARDIAN.

Her parents could be in jail, spaced out on who knows what, or just plain dead, but wherever they are, it does appear that they are not a part of the child's life.

Your "SAFE place" would almost certainly be somewhere away from what is apparently the ONLY FAMILY the poor mother has left.


Your kneejerk reaction and lynch minded wishes are right down there with the "bomb obama"s and other like minded utterances of the worst the Right has to offer.

[amdezurik]

26. oh and the foster system is such a healthy place to be

...

[Le Taz Hot]

42. The child will be in CPS only temporarily.

The child was taken to the hospital to be examined. These children are adopted out to permanent families. The mother has 60 days in which to re-claim the baby without prosecution. While they're waiting for the 60 days to pass, the child goes to into CPS. This area is rife with child mothers/fathers and in the bad old days, too often these babies were found dead or half dead on doorsteps, trashcans, truck beds, etc. This is actually exactly how this is supposed to work.

[MarkInCA]

3. F*%& I wish it was good news when Fresno makes headlines

I just saw this too. Unfortunately this is all too common here, but you can't immediately say she was raped. I'm not sure how you could come to that conclusion based on what we know. Parents ought to be nailed for not raising their daughter better.

I am glad that the baby will be safe. Way better than reading how one was found in a dumster or cut out of the murdered mother (yeah, it really happened).

edit: meant to reply to No. 2, not OP

[MrCoffee]

21. I think this is good news...Safe Haven laws work

The baby will be cared for.

[MarkInCA]

32. I agree it is good news for the baby

Thank God we have the law. But 12 y.o.s getting pregnant and not being responsible enough sickens me. When I see a girl walking down the street with a stoller I always think "It must be the sister or aunt" but I know it usually isn't.

[BornBlue]

33. Excuse me?

"But 12 y.o.s getting pregnant and not being responsible enough sickens me"

How on earth could a 12 year old be responsible enough, they cannot even legally hold a job or drop out of school.

On a second note, where does the responsibility fall for the father? Sure, blame the girl for getting pregnant, but not the boy for his part. Real nice.

[MarkInCA]

34. That got screwed up between my head and my fingers.

I meant to say something to the effect of irresponsible 12 y.o.s getting pregnant.

Yes, the father, regardless of age, is equally responsible.

(will preview better before posting)

[amdezurik]

45. so...

the girl in this story "sickens" you for not being responsible, but the ones who are being responsible in you previous statement (by keeping the child) also "sicken" you? so who does not cause you distress in this world of people who may not always conform to your bigotries?

[aikoaiko]

4. This is a prime example of when the "No Questions Asked" policy really counts.

Clearly something bad, something criminal happened, but if the program must keep its promises or it will fail.

[TCJ70]

9. I'll agree something bad happened...

...but criminal? How do you figure?

[yellerpup]

10. Criminal because a 12 year old cannot give consent.

[TCJ70]

12. Follow up question:

Is it still illegal if the male is the same age? If not, then nothing illegal happened. I really don't know the law on this one.

Wrong? Yeah. Bad? Yeah.

[yellerpup]

24. Fourteen is the youngest age of legal sexual consent in the nation.

Some states are fifteen, sixteen, etc. I doubt a pregnancy perpetrated by a twelve year old on another twelve year old would be prosecuted, but that would depend on the state and the prosecutor. I don't have a link, but I have read somewhere (during research on abortion) that more than 90 percent of pregnancies of children (girls) younger than thirteen are usually perpetrated by a family member. That's sad and gross to be sure, but if you're too young to date....

[YellowRubberDuckie]

13. The other kid could have been 12 too.

You don't know the details, so stop making them up.
Duckie

[yellerpup]

19. It doesn't matter how old the other kid was.

He may not be prosecuted because he is under the age of consent, too, but no state in the union has an age of consent under fourteen years of age. The rules are the rules no matter what the details. Duckie.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

22. Now you're not making sense.

Why is it that you are holding the boy responsible and not the girl? You are making no sense. And you obviously have no idea what you're talking about.
Duckie

[yellerpup]

27. I'm not judging anyone or holding either party responsible for the pregnancy.

You don't know who the father is either, I presume, but I think that we can agree that to be a biological father the subject must be male. Two people are responsible for a pregnancy in every case. Does that make sense to you?

[YellowRubberDuckie]

28. Of course it does.

But you were flying off the handle talking about holding a kid responsible for getting a girl pregnant, and you have no idea how old he is, if he raped her, if she raped him, or if it was just an accident.
Duckie

[yellerpup]

31. Flying off the handle am I, Pot?

I'm not replying to you again. Try to brush up on reading comprehension. Kettle.

[WindRiverMan]

14. Statutory rape!!!

A 12 year old cannot consent to sex according to most state's laws. Age of consent is usually 16, and even then, in some states, if she is 16 and the boy is 18, it is still considered rape.

[TCJ70]

16. But we don't know...

...the age of the boy.

Statutory rape is a serious jump to a serious conclusion.

[aikoaiko]

37. I should have written "potentially criminal".

[Vektor]

6. Very sad, but I'm glad the Safe Haven Law was available to them.

The baby sounded healthy, and will receive prompt medical care, and be looked after. The fire dept. knows what to do in cases like this.

It sounds like these scared girls did they best they could with an unfortunate situation. Poor things, they must have been terrified.

[Poll_Blind]

18. This is law helps make the best of a terrible situation.

I don't and won't ever know what caused an 11 or 12 year old girl to get pregnant but I do know that this infant will be looked after and cared for in an environment where she is wanted. And that is a good thing.

PB

[SweetieD]

29. Very sad story.

[Pastiche423]

35. How do they really know that the mother was only 12?

They just took the word of the "aunt"?

[LisaL]

43. Sure looks like it. Also says the aunt was anonymous.

[carlyhippy]

38. sad story, but I am glad the aunt and mother did the right thing and took the baby to a safe haven

worse could have possibly occured had this law not been in place......

[BlueIris]

39. He's a cute little thing. Too bad he was born into such difficult circumstances. nt

[Stargazer09]

44. Regardless of the circumstances

I'm glad that the baby was not killed or left in an unsafe place.

Definitely a sad situation all the way around.

[surrealAmerican]

46. I hope they managed to direct the 12 year old to ...

... some medical assistance. The baby had apparently been delivered in a non-medical setting. A girl this young, delivering a baby really needs to see a doctor.