The New South Wales Coroner has recommended “safe haven” laws to allow desperate parents to hand over their babies without fear of “humiliation or prosecution”.
The recommendations came at the inquest into the death of baby Lily Grace, who was found buried in a shallow grave in sand dunes at South Maroubra beach in November 2014.
Two young boys who were playing in the dunes made the gruesome discovery.
In handing down his findings into the little girl’s death, Coroner Hugh Dillon said the case was “mysterious, distressing and, indeed, confronting”.
“The purpose of this inquest is not to attempt to shame anyone, especially the mother of Lily Grace,” he said.
“Although we do not know who she is, it takes little imagination to understand that to lose a baby and to seek to hide that baby’s death in this way suggests that the mother was desperate.
“The fact that she has not come forward suggests that she is ashamed, vulnerable and scared.
“Any decent person would immediately understand that she needs help and understanding rather than cheap and shallow criticism.”
Mr Dillon said there was no evidence that baby Lily Grace was stillborn and that it was likely she had not been born in a hospital because her umbilical cord was severed, rather than clamped as it would have been in a hospital.
But he was unable to determine how the infant died, her identity or the identity of the mother who abandoned her.
Coroner recommends ‘safe haven’ laws for desperate parents.
The coroner recommended the NSW Government introduce “safe haven” laws, and renewed the call for the State Government to consider setting up so-called baby boxes at public hospitals.
The boxes are already in use in countries like Germany, Canada and the Czech Republic and allow parents to place their babies into a hatch which then activates an alarm to alert hospital staff to retrieve the baby.
A spokeswoman said the NSW Government would respond to the recommendations in due course.
Mr Dillon also appealed to Lily Grace’s mother, or anyone else with information, to get in touch with police.
“Not so someone can be caught and punished,” he said.
“But so that the mother can be helped and so that Lily Grace can be granted the dignity of true identity and allowed to rest in peace with her history and her true name.”
There are no reliable estimates for the number of babies abandoned and left to die in Australia.
But Graham Boyd, who heads up the cemetery where Lily Grace is buried, said a French court study revealed the rate could be alarmingly high.
“It appears there’s around 2.1 babies to every 100,000 who are abandoned to death,” he said.
“That means, every year, over six babies are dying abandoned to death in Australia.
“Since the Sydney Olympic Games, around 100 babies have been abandoned to death, most of whom will never be found.”
Couple who unofficially adopted baby welcome findings.
Sergeant Bill Green and his wife Filomena D’Allessandro unofficially adopted Lily Grace in the days after her body was found in order to give her a proper funeral and burial.
The couple was at the coroner’s court to hear today’s findings and said they welcomed the recommendations.
“We may not have done too much for Lily Grace,” Ms D’Allessandro said.
“But at the end of the day if something comes out of this that is positive, that would be fantastic.”
Sergeant Green echoed the coroner’s appeal to reach out to Lily Grace’s mother.
“It would have been a traumatic experience,” he said.
“Those who have been involved in similar situations know what the experience is like and to give up a child like that, it would have been such a hard decision, it wouldn’t have been made easily.”
A memorial day will be held for Lily Grace and all other children abandoned to death on April 29 at the Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park in Sydney.
This post originally appeared on ABC News.
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Top Comments
Saying these babies "were abandoned" whitewashes the reality and deflects responsibility.
They were not abandoned. Their parents - usually mothers - murdered these children rather than take responsibility for the consequences of their actions.
Abortion can perhapse be justified, but not the murder of a new human being.
That said, I would support the idea of safe havens for the babies. But let's not ignore the reality that women are just as capable of murdering the innocent as men are.
Abandoned: having been deserted and left. That's no "deflection", it's exactly what's happened. Babies have died because they were abandoned, mostly by their mothers. No-one's saying anything else. In this case however, we don't yet know who placed Lily Grace where she was found.
Incidently, it'd be a mistake to confuse the word "reason" with "excuse". A list of causes can only detail how and why something happened. We need to learn the causes of the behaviour in order to prevent it in future.
Why are we not expected to judge? We would judge a mother who killed her three year old child, so why not condemn this woman if she has also murdered her child.
And I say this as someone who has never wanted children but because of that I have taken precautions not to get pregnant but if I had fallen pregnant I would have had an abortion or adopted the baby out or perhaps kept it, I can't see how killing is right. I could perhaps understand this hundreds of years ago when women had no access to these things but nowadays it seems to me there is no excuse.
Contraception can and does fail
Adoption is long and involved when some women want no drama
Some like myself found out past abortion cut off. I was 27 weeks when i found out but i was lucky iwas in a relationship with my childs dad
If i wasnt i honestly dont know if i would have coped and may have had a need for this
And your "need" justifies the murder of an innocent child?
What sort of mentality is that?
What? I'm pretty sure Ineedacoffee is saying that she might have needed the safe haven, not that she would have murdered her own baby!
What child? Children are born
And yes a woman's bodily autonomy is first