SSB Reports to the Legislature
2010-2014 Safely Surrendered Baby Law (SSB) Report to the Legislature
2005 Safely Surrendered Baby Law (SSB) Report to the Legislature
2003 Safely Surrendered Baby Law (SSB) Report to the Legislature
In addition to reports produced by CDSS, since 2002 the Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect has annually produced the report “Safely Surrendered and Abandoned Infants in Los Angeles County.” The report provides an in-depth analysis of safe surrender and abandonment cases, including general findings regarding mothers in those cases and lessons learned. The report can be found at the following link:
Safely Surrendered and Abandoned Infants in Los Angeles County
SSB Data
From January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2015, 770 newborns have been surrendered in California. This is compared with 164 infants abandoned since 2001, identified according to CDSS Methodology . Available data indicates a generally decreasing trend of abandonments since enactment of the SSB Law, from 25 cases in 2002 to five or fewer cases per year since 2010, representing a decrease of at least 80% (calendar year 2006 appears to be an exception to the trend of decreasing abandonments). The CDSS continues to identify abandonment cases from various sources and will continue to report updates to this trend.
Safely Surrendered Babies and Abandoned Infants
Chart Updated March 2016
* Safely Surrendered total includes Safely Surrendered Reclaims
** Data on abandoned deceased infants from the Fetal Child Abuse and Neglect (FCANS) database has been provided by the California Department of Public Health for calendar years 2005-2012. Review of FCANS data for calendar years 2013-2014 may identify additional cases for these years.
*** Prior to 2014, CDSS reported 152 abandoned surviving cases. This count was determined inaccurate due to a problematic scope of identification that led to inclusion of cases unrelated to monitoring the effectiveness of the SSB Law. In July 2014, CDSS reconciled data from statewide media sources, from the Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect and from prior data extracted from the Child Welfare Services Case Management System database, to positively identify 56 Abandoned Surviving cases.
Similarly, 9 Abandoned Surviving and 20 Abandoned Deceased cases were newly identified through a reconciliation project in December 2014. Combining this information with the duplicate records of 2 Abandoned Surviving and 1 Abandoned Deceased cases that were also recognized, a total of 7 Abandoned Surviving and 19 Abandoned Deceased children were added to this annual totals table.
SSB Data
From January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2015, 770 newborns have been surrendered in California. This is compared with 164 infants abandoned since 2001, identified according to CDSS Methodology . Available data indicates a generally decreasing trend of abandonments since enactment of the SSB Law, from 25 cases in 2002 to five or fewer cases per year since 2010, representing a decrease of at least 80% (calendar year 2006 appears to be an exception to the trend of decreasing abandonments). The CDSS continues to identify abandonment cases from various sources and will continue to report updates to this trend.
Safely Surrendered Babies and Abandoned Infants
| Year
|
Reclaimed
|
Safely
Surrendered
|
Total
Abandoned
|
Abandoned
Surviving
|
Abandoned
Deceased
|
| 2001
|
0
|
2
|
20
|
7
|
13
|
| 2002
|
0
|
17
|
25
|
13
|
12
|
| 2003
|
0
|
25
|
13
|
5
|
8
|
| 2004
|
1
|
33
|
19
|
7
|
12
|
| 2005
|
0
|
52
|
11
|
4
|
7
|
| 2006
|
0
|
65
|
26
|
10
|
16
|
| 2007
|
1
|
47
|
8
|
4
|
4
|
| 2008
|
0
|
61
|
12
|
3
|
9
|
| 2009
|
1
|
57
|
8
|
2
|
6
|
| 2010
|
5
|
71
|
5
|
2
|
3
|
| 2011
|
2
|
48
|
5
|
1
|
4
|
| 2012
|
4
|
72
|
3
|
0
|
3
|
| 2013
|
2
|
62
|
4
|
2
|
2**
|
| 2014
|
0
|
74
|
5
|
4
|
1**
|
| 2015
|
6
|
84
|
5
|
5
|
0
|
| TOTAL
|
22
|
770*
|
169
|
69***
|
100***
|
Chart Updated March 2016
* Safely Surrendered total includes Safely Surrendered Reclaims** Data on abandoned deceased infants from the Fetal Child Abuse and Neglect (FCANS) database has been provided by the California Department of Public Health for calendar years 2005-2012. Review of FCANS data for calendar years 2013-2014 may identify additional cases for these years.
*** Prior to 2014, CDSS reported 152 abandoned surviving cases. This count was determined inaccurate due to a problematic scope of identification that led to inclusion of cases unrelated to monitoring the effectiveness of the SSB Law. In July 2014, CDSS reconciled data from statewide media sources, from the Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect and from prior data extracted from the Child Welfare Services Case Management System database, to positively identify 56 Abandoned Surviving cases.
Similarly, 9 Abandoned Surviving and 20 Abandoned Deceased cases were newly identified through a reconciliation project in December 2014. Combining this information with the duplicate records of 2 Abandoned Surviving and 1 Abandoned Deceased cases that were also recognized, a total of 7 Abandoned Surviving and 19 Abandoned Deceased children were added to this annual totals table.