Legislation Related to Baby Abandoned in Ellisville Stalls
Authorities said the newborn nicknamed "Baby Chuck" in honor of the police officer who first identified the child was placed under the Missouri Department of Social Services.
A criminal hearing for Kaitlin T. Norton, the mother accused of abandoning her newborn son in Ellisville, was scheduled for this week. State legislation aimed at expanding Missouri's "safe haven law," meanwhile, targetting cases such as Norton's, may have lost the momentum needed for passage. Police said Norton, 19, left her newborn son in a wooded area between two homes on Westridge Parc Lane in February on the same day the child was born before later fleeing to a local hospital. If Norton is convicted in the abandondment case, she faces at least five years in prison before qualifying for parole and faces a maximum sentence of 15 years, a St. Louis Post-Dispatch report said. State legislation considered by lawmakers just days after the …
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dawn
9:12 am on Saturday, May 5, 2012
The Safe Haven law SHOULD be improved in many ways. 1) And not 45 days, but 30 days which is the norm for the rest of the country 2) SHOULD also mandate that this information be taught in Health Ed Classes 3) SHOULD require Safe Haven signs be posted at all Safe Haven facilities 4) SHOULD require that the State track statistics regarding the law   more ›