- The Utah Legislature passed the Newborn Safe Haven law 25 years ago.
- The law allows mothers to anonymously, legally surrender their child at a hospital.
- A family's life changed when they were able to adopt one of the first Safe Haven babies.
Sam Peterson is a regular guy in his 20s.
“I love camping, I love fishing, playing sports, skiing, boating, pretty much anything to keep me outdoors,” he said. “Those basically are ordinary things, but the reason I’m standing here today is anything but ordinary.”
Almost 25 years ago, Peterson was one of the first babies in Utah placed for adoption through the Utah newborn safe haven law, which allows a mother to anonymously leave her baby at a hospital up to 90 days after the child is born.
When he was just days old, Peterson’s birth mother dropped him off at a hospital in Utah. Her identity is anonymous and her specific circumstances are a mystery, but one thing is certain: she gave him a chance by leaving him at a hospital instead of somewhere unsafe.
Thanks to the law, Peterson’s birth mother could anonymously drop him off at a hospital without any legal repercussions. The Utah Division of Child and Family Services then placed him with his adoptive parents, who had been hoping and praying for a child for eight years.
Peterson joined families and advocates Monday to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the law. They emphasized that the mission remains clear: “No names, blame or shame — only love and support.”
Saving babies, protecting mothers, creating families
Former Democratic state Sen. Patrice Arent, who sponsored the Utah law in 2001, said it started with “dumpster babies.”
Arent was hearing stories of babies left to die in dumpsters, public bathrooms and even dresser drawers because their mothers couldn’t take care of them, but didn’t know where else to turn. Before the safe haven law, there was no legal, anonymous way to surrender a baby in Utah.
“I was looking for a solution,” she said.
That solution came from outside Utah. “A reporter said she was so tired, just so sick of reporting on dumpster babies in her state,” Arent said. That reporter went to district attorneys and asked them if it would be possible to come up with a location where mothers could drop off their babies and not be prosecuted.
When Arent sponsored the bill, she said some opposed it at first. They feared giving mothers a legal abandonment option would encourage a woman to give up her baby instead of finding a way to keep the child. But since the law was passed in 2001, she said countless babies’ lives have been saved because they could be left at hospitals rather than alone in a dumpster or other fatal place.
Generational impacts
Arent said it’s hard to know exactly how many lives have been saved or impacted because of the law, but it’s a large number.
“Let’s just take Sam,” she said. “How many lives has he impacted?” He impacted his parents who adopted him, she said. He impacted all the people he served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He impacted those he testified to about the law in the Utah Legislature. And he was able to do all of that because his mother had a place to safely, anonymously leave him 24 years ago, she said.
“When people talk about the safe haven law, they’re often talking about the moment of the crisis. But when I think about the safe haven law, honestly, it’s my entire life,” Peterson said. “It’s every birthday I’ve celebrated, it’s every lesson I’ve learned, every opportunity I’ve been given, every dream I’ve been able to pursue.”
Peterson’s mother, Heather Peterson, is now a board member for Utah Newborn Safe Haven. She said the most important way to make the law work is to let people know it exists.
“There’s women who find themselves in situations where they just really don’t know what their options are, and that they have options,” she said. Heather Peterson wants women to know that whether they keep their baby, leave it at a hospital or place it in a traditional adoption agency, they are not alone. They don’t need to feel trapped and abandon it somewhere unsafe, she said.
Through choked words, Heather Peterson had a message for her son’s birth mother:
“To that woman who brought him into the world, I don’t know your name, and I don’t know your circumstances. I don’t know anything about what it took for you to get to that hospital and to make that decision. But I am so grateful for the courage that you showed.”
Heather Peterson said that because one woman knew where to go, a baby was saved, a family was created and lives were changed.
