HomeMy WebLinkAboutRESOLUTIONS - 01012003 - 2003-464 C133
Contra
TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
FROM: FAMILY AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE `a .. •
t
Costa
DATE: July 23, 2003
SUBJECT. SAFELY SURRENDERED BABY LAW County
SPECIFIC REQUEST{S}OR RECOMMENDATION{S}&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION P=0=CN 2003/464
RECOMMENDATION:
1. DESIGNATE all Kaiser Medical Offices located in Centra Costa County as Safe Surrender sites.
2. DESIGNATE Pinole Fire Department, Richmond Fire Department, El Cerrito Fire Department,
Kensington Fire Protection District, East Contra Costa Fire Protection District, Moraga-Orinda Fire
Protection District, San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District, Rodeo-Hercules Fire Protection
District, and Crockett-Carquinez Fire Protection District as Safe Surrender sites.
BACKGROUND:
Hospital emergency departments are designated as Safely Surrendered Baby sites under Penal Code
Section 271.5. The same section of California's Safely Surrendered Baby Law permits County Boards
of Supervisors to designate, by Board Resolution, sites in addition to hospital emergency departments
where parents may voluntarily surrender physical custody of their infant (72 hours old or less) instead
of abandoning the newborn. The Antioch Women's Club requested the Board to designate additional
Safe Surrender sites because, as of last year, there was only one site to serve all of East County.
A Task Force, staffed by Health Services, began meeting in December 2002 to investigate
designating additional sites in the County. The Task Farce review of available data confirmed that
abandoned infants do not occur in particular geographic areas, but can occur in any part of the
County.
On March 18, 2003, the Board of Supervisors designated all County-operated Health Centers and all
County-governed fire districts as Safe Surrender sites, and requested Kaiser Permanente and non-
County operated fire services to participate in the Safe Surrender program.
CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT; YES SIGN TURE:
RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE
APPROVE OTHER
SIGNATURE{S}.
FE ERAL D.GLOVERJ N lOIA
ACTION OF BOARD ON AUGMW 5. 2003 APPROVE AS RECOMMENDED X OTHER
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE
AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN
UNANIMOUS{ABSENT } AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF
AYES; NOES, SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN.
ABSENT: ABSTAIN:
ATTESTED AlT3Tqr -9 2MA _
JOHN SWEETEN,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF
Contact Person:Mary Foran{5-5010} SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
cc: CAO
Contra Costa Health Services r
Contra Costa Human Resources �}
BY �✓ ,DEPUTY
July 23, 2003
SAFELY SURRENDERED BABY LAW
BACKGROUND (Continued)
Kaiser Permanente has Medical Offices located in Antioch, Martinez, Richmond and Walnut
Creek (two locations) and a new site (Deer Valley) opening this fall. The Chiefs of Pediatrics for
Richmond and the region covering east and central Contra Costa responded to the Board's
request by providing the leadership for Kaiser to train staff at all their Medical Offices on the
Safe Surrender law. Training materials were provided by Health Services, and Safe Surrender
Kits containing all materials for accepting a surrendered infant were assembled by the Antioch
Women's Club for all Kaiser sites. Kaiser Permanente indicated its willingness to accept
designation by providing letters to that effect to the Health Services Department.
On June 18, 2003, at the County Fire Chiefs' Executive Board meeting, nine fire districts agreed
to participate in Contra Costa's Safe Surrender efforts. The County Fire Protection District
provided training materials for all other districts to use and distributed the Safe Surrender Kits,
assembled by the Antioch Women's Club, to all fire protection districts. All fire districts have
indicated their willingness to accept designation by providing documentation to that effect to the
Health Services Department.
With the designation of all fire districts, the Kaiser Medical Offices and the County Health Cen-
ters, Contra Costa County will have a total of 88 Safe Surrender sites distributed throughout the
County. This compares with the eight Hospital Emergency Departments originally designated
by the law.
The Antioch Women's Club has provided Safe Surrender logo signs for all the original and
newly designated sites. Pleasant Hill Bayshore Disposal provided funding for the costs of the
door signs and surrender kits.
The Safe Surrender Task Force has prepared an educational campaign on the law and the ex-
panded sites that includes a press release, distribution of public service announcements to
CCTV and radio stations, wide distribution of educational materials to community organizations,
County programs, cities and libraries through trainings, websites, presentations, newsletter
articles and special mailings. Notification about the law will be sent to all County employees. A
briefing on the law has been prepared by the Sheriff's Office for the County Police Chiefs'
Association. The Child Abuse Prevention Council will incorporate Safe Surrender as a topic in
its trainings for mandated reporters and in all its community education presentations.
The campaign will be launched on the date of Board action to designate the non-County oper-
ated fire districts and the Kaiser Medical Offices.
AMR, the provider of ambulance services in Contra Costa County, will transport newborns from
alternate surrender sites to the nearest Emergency Department for free. The Contra Costa
Crisis Center will answer all calls for Information about Safe Surrender sites through its Crisis
Line.
In addition to the Antioch Women's Club and the Health Services Department, the Task Force
has included the Child Abuse Prevention Council, Contra Costa District Attorney's Office,
Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department, Contra
Costa County Employment and Human Services, First 5 Contra Costa, the Hospital Council-
East Bay Section, the Perinatal Council and Pleasant Hill Bayshore Disposal.
All of these organizations, together with the fire districts and Kaiser Permanente, have worked
to dramatically expand the number of Safe Surrender sites in Contra Costa County and increase
awareness of the law.
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