When North Lyon County Fire Protection District Chief Brian Bunn heard the story that a child had been found and rescued from a dumpster a couple of weeks ago in Reno, it triggered something in his mind that he hadn’t thought about in a while.
Chapter 432B of Nevada Revised Statutes, often referred to as Nevada’s Safe Haven Law, specifies that a child who is or appears to be not more than 30 days old can be voluntarily delivered to an emergency service provider without being prosecuted for abuse or neglect.
“I’m not going to ask any questions of why this other individual put a child in a dumpster, but I’m going to assume that they didn’t know,” Bunn said. “So I want all of our residents in Fernley to know if they, or they know somebody that may be in that difficult situation, they can always surrender the child at one of our fire stations.”
Under the Safe Haven Law, a parent may surrender a child under 30 days of age at a hospital, an obstetric center or an independent center for emergency medical care, a fire station, law enforcement agency, ambulance service or child welfare services. The primary goal is to provide a safe alternative for parents facing difficult circumstances, preventing abandonment in unsafe locations.
Bunn said when he heard about the case in Reno, he found out North Lyon Fire didn’t have an emergency kit ready in case someone surrendered an infant. Bunn said the fire department has since purchased formula, blankets, pacifiers, diapers and anything else a baby may need.
“We’ve got everything to provide that support of care and get them to an appropriate facility from that,” he said.
Bunn said he was responsible for keeping Safe Haven kits in his previous position with Truckee Meadows Fire, but has never had anyone surrender a child and hopes it never would happen.
“But better to do it that way than obviously the way it was done, or other things that somebody might do,” he said.
In addition to the kits, Bunn said North Lyon Fire is now working on writing up a formal policy that will spell out the procedure the department would follow in such a case.
“The policies are going to be who do we contact, how we accept the child,“ he said. “Who are we going to call in the event somebody drops them off at two in the afternoon or two in the morning. That way we can get the child to the appropriate facility, and we’ll provide all the transport.”
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