Work progressing on abandoned infants law

By JOHN HULTGREN
Kentucky EMS Connection

FRANKFORT — The Kentucky Cabinet for Families and Children met with EMS, police, and hospital representatives today in Frankfort to work on a system for implementing the new abandoned infants law.

The new law allows a parent to anonymously leave their newborn with a police officer, firefighter, ambulance crew, or hospital without fear of criminal prosecution. The newborn must be less than 72-hours old and unabused. The parent has up to thirty days to reconsider their action.

The law's purpose is to prevent children from being abandoned in unattended areas, such as a doorstep or dumpster.

Although the law is currently in effect, a system to receive newborns had not been designed.

It was decided today that:

• The brochure the cabinet has been working on will target parents, and not rescuers. The goal is to place the brochure in high-visibility areas, such as clinics and schools.
• Any rescuer receiving a newborn under this program would be required to contact EMS immediately for a field evaluation and transport to a hospital. The Kentucky Board of EMS is working on a protocol that ambulance crews would follow if they received an infant under this program. The protocol would contain information designed to assist the ambulance crew, including common signs of child abuse and a photo of a 72-hour umbilical cord. 
• The Kentucky Hospital Association plans to create a model protocol to share with all Kentucky hospitals. The hospital would be responsible for evaluating the newborn and contacting the cabinet. (EMS, which is required by law to report abuse or neglect, would not be required to report anything in this case because only unabused newborns are eligible for this program.)
• The Cabinet for Families and Children would develop and distribute a packet that hopefully would end up in every police car, fire vehicle, and ambulance. The packet would include a short checklist to assist the rescuer receiving the newborn in complying with the law and protocol. 
       The packet would also contain a medical-type bracelet and several numbered tags. The bracelet would be placed on the newborn and tags would be placed on paperwork. Each packet would have a unique number and a record could be kept on which agency was assigned the number. This system would allow anonymity while still creating a trail so newborns received are accounted for and a parent has a way to identify an infant if they change their mind within the 30-day window.
       The packet would also include a brochure outlining parental rights that the rescuer would offer to the parent. 
       The packet would also include a medical history questionnaire that the parent could voluntarily complete on-site or return by mail. By statute, the cabinet must develop this questionnaire.
       Finally, the packet would include a brochure designed to assist the parent with any personal medical problems related to childbirth, particularly if they gave birth outside of a medical facility.

Also present at the meeting were representatives of the cabinet's public relations staff. The cabinet plans a major media blitz in the coming months to alert new parents of this program. They will consider filming a television spot in front of a firehouse and include a police officer, firefighter, and ambulance crew in the spot.

The cabinet has also offered to conduct a session at the Kentucky EMS Conference and Expo this September to help educate rescuers on the program.

Because the cabinet wants to fully implement the new system as quickly as possible, there will be no further group meetings. However, most of those attending the meeting have been placed on workgroups, and workgroups will share their work electronically for comment.

EMS was represented at the meeting by Tom Taylor, Project Manager for the Kentucky EMS for Children Project, and John Hultgren from Louisville Medical Center STATCARE. Police was represented by Lt. Lisa Rudzinski from the Kentucky State Police Public Affair Branch. There were no fire-service representatives at the meeting.

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