NEWBORN LEFT AT STATION MOTHER TAKES ADVANTAGE OF SAFE SURRENDER PROGRAM.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Staff Writer

CANYON COUNTRY - A woman in her 20s dropped off her hours-old son at dawn Monday at a rural fire station, surrendering the newborn under a program that asks few questions and promises anonymity.

The mother surrendered the infant under Los Angeles County's 2-year-old Safe Surrender program, which allows parents of babies up to 3 days old to leave their infants at fire stations or hospital emergency rooms without facing any charges.

``She did something that took courage - she gave that little boy a chance at life,'' said Capt. Richard Weise, who was in charge at Station 123 when the front door buzzer sounded about 6 a.m.

The 7-pound boy, wrapped in a towel, was healthy and cooing in paramedic Chad Hunter's arms on the ride to a Valencia hospital, where he'll be kept for a few days. That will give the mother time to change her mind or for the county Department of Children and Family Services to locate a foster family to care for the baby until an adoption can be arranged.

``He just stared at me the whole time; it took me back to the time when I had little babies,'' said Hunter, who has a son, 3 1/2, and an 11-month-old daughter. ``He cooed and he rooted, looking for something to eat. He was a beautiful little boy.''

An option for so many women has been to abandon their babies in out- of-the-way locations, leaving heart-wrenching discoveries for rescuers. Hunter recalled a call to a trash bin in El Monte where a baby's body was found, just days before his own wife gave birth to their first child.

Weise said the baby brought to his station was in mild distress - typical of newborns - but his and the mother's vital signs were good. Firefighters talked briefly with the woman and learned she had given birth at home about two hours earlier and had cut and clamped the umbilical cord.

She accepted a hospital bracelet to match her son's that would allow her to reclaim the child within two weeks without consequence if she has a change of heart. She refused treatment and drove herself home.

``It's bittersweet, but we feel good about what we did,'' Weise said. ``The end result is the child is taken care of.''

The mother told firefighters at Station 123 she was unable to keep the baby.

``I felt sorry for the mother, obviously, but she did the right thing,'' county fire Capt. Corey Lovers said.

According to fire Capt. Mark Savage, 27 infants have been surrendered safely since the program's inception in August 2002.

The Safe Surrender program was developed at the urging of Supervisor Don Knabe, whose staff found a longtime state law that allowed for safe transfers of infants from parents who for one reason or another couldn't keep them. A community task force was formed and the group won state support for a widespread campaign that promises ``no shame, no blame.''

``I heard this on the news this morning and I said, Yeah!'' Knabe said in a phone interview. ``My wife said, 'What are you yelling about?' I said, We saved a baby, up in Santa Clarita.''

Hunter handed his tiny charge over to a pediatric nurse at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, who gave him a standard vitamin injection and a bottle.

This was the second surrendered baby cared for at Newhall Memorial; a baby was left last year at the ER and later adopted, a spokeswoman said.

Several cities in the county have signed on to the program in the past two years and the task force has designed and organized distribution of bumper stickers, billboards and pamphlets touting the program.

``It's not very often that you have a government program that actually works, one where you know for sure you're doing the right thing,'' Knabe said.

Patricia Farrell Aidem, [phone]

pat.aidem(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

(color -- ran in SAC edition only) Capt. Richard Weise holds a bracelet ID like the one he gave a mother after another bracelet was put on her baby.

David Crane/Staff Photographer