DELIVERING BABIES TO SAFE ARMS LAW HELPS SAVE LOCAL INFANTS.

Byline: Sue Doyle Staff Writer

HUNTINGTON PARK - The call came through when she was running errands in the neighborhood.

A newborn was available. He was abandoned at the hospital. Did she want him?

Violeta Rodriguez remembers that moment exactly, from the street she was driving on to the errands she had to make. It was one of those moments that can change a person's life forever.

Nicholas was only one day old when that call was made. He's one of about 122 babies handed over to a safe surrender site since the 2001 law went into effect. Three of those babies have been safely surrendered in Santa Clarita, one at a fire station and the other at a local hospital.

The law allows parents to voluntarily relinquish custody of their newborns up to 72 hours old to all hospitals and designated fire stations in the state without legal consequences.

Although grisly stories of abandoned babies have caused some to question the law's effectiveness, the number of babies surrendered to safe sites has actually increased over the past four years. In 2001, there were two babies handed over to hospitals under the law. Last year, there were 51, according to the Department of Social Services.

At the same time, the number of babies who have been abandoned and left elsewhere has slowly decreased, according to the Sacramento-based agency. About 30 newborns were abandoned in 2001, compared with 19 in 2005.

Advocates say the law gives birth parents alternatives. Adoptive parents, like Violeta and Carlos Rodriguez, say it helps provide them with the children they've always wanted.

One day the couple would like to learn more about Nicholas's birth parents, but they're not ready now. They wouldn't reveal the hospital he came from out of concern that the birth parents could find their son.

Sometimes, Violeta Rodriguez said, she wonders about the birth mother of her boy who turned 2 this month.

``In the beginning, I was kind of mad and wondered why she did that,'' Violeta Rodriguez said. ``But later I realized she did the right thing and had thought about the baby and dropped him at a safe place.''

The law reduces the risk of child abandonment by providing alternatives to desperate mothers or those who can't keep their babies, said Shirley Washington, spokeswoman for the Social Services department.

Surrendering parents range from 15- to 42-years-old and their reasons for using the Safe Surrender law vary, according to a report from Social Services.

Little else is known about the women, since information given to hospitals remains confidential.

But those who work at Project Cuddle, a nonprofit and 24-hour hotline that offers resources to the women who find themselves with crisis pregnancies, recognize some trends.

Usually the women are in denial about their pregnancies and begin to take actions when they start to show. Sometimes the women have been so traumatized by the pregnancy, such as happens with rape, they disconnect mentally from the fetus growing inside.

Nearly half of the women calling the nonprofit have had children before, and family has told them that if they have any more babies, they won't get any support, said Debbe Magnusun, founder and CEO of the Costa Mesa-based nonprofit.

``Their fear outweighs their logic,'' she said.

Magnusun's interests with abandoned children began as a child, when she traveled with her father who helped provide medical care to help orphans in Mexico. She became curious about their lives as she watched her father tend to the children while she stood the the side and matched donated socks.

Later, after having two children, Magnusun became a foster mother and kept an eye out for abandoned babies. Of the 35 she cared for, all were drug exposed. She wondered where the abandoned babies were and then learned the harsh reality: the babies usually die.

It was after a baby in 1996 was found suffocated in a trash bag in Santa Ana that Magnusun got angry and knew she had to do something to help change the outcomes of these situations. She's been helping pregnant women ever since.

Young Matthew was surrendered to a hospital after his birth mother delivered him there and later decided to give up her parental rights. The hospital considered it a safe surrender situation and contacted social services to help find a foster family.

That's when Vanessa Moore came into the picture. The 45-year-old single woman had prepared to become a foster parent after learning about it through a seminar at church. She did all the prerequisites, went to parenting classes and read up on child care.

Then, one day at work, she got the call.

There was an infant, born four weeks premature. Did she want to come to the hospital see him?

``Once I saw him, I knew he was meant for me,'' she said.

Moore, who has officially adopted Matthew, did not know about the safe surrender law until he came into her life. At first she had concerns that the mother may change her mind and come back for the boy.

Like the Rodriguez family, Moore did not want to reveal the hospital he came from.

But, she said the birth mother's decision allowed her to become a mother, a role she hopes to enhance.

``If I get a bigger house, I plan to get him a sibling,'' she said.

Sue Doyle,[phone]

sue.doyle(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Vanessa Moore and her adopted son Matthew.

(2) Born four weeks premature, Matthew was less than three days old when Vanessa Moore, now a 45-year-old single mother, became his foster parent through the safe surrender law. Three local babies have been handed over under the 2001 law.