It was a case that was met with outrage in American papers and confusion Danish ones. Anette Sørensen, a 30-year-old from Copenhagen, jailed in New York City for leaving her newborn baby in a pram outside a restaurant while she had a drink.
Two decades on, the now mother of three remains bewildered by her arrest and the media attention it earned. She has since published a book on the case in Denmark (A Worm in The Apple – The Pramcase of New York), and is now raising funds to have it translated into English. She hopes, according to The New York Post, that it will help people understand her actions on that May day in 1997.
“I would like if I could just say what I think,” the writer told the paper.
Sørensen wasn’t a stranger to New York. She’d studied theatre there in the hopes of becoming an actress, and during that time had a relationship with a Brooklyn-based playwright to whom she fell pregnant. It was him she was meeting the day of her arrest, having returned to the city after giving birth in Denmark.
The pair met at East Village restaurant Dallas BBQ, and after introducing the man to his daughter, they went inside for a drink. The child stayed outside in her pram, and – Sørensen says – was watched closely through the window.
“I had lived in New York, so, of course, I knew that I didn’t see prams all over the city,” Sørensen told The New York Post. “But… I had been living in Copenhagen, I had given birth to my daughter in Copenhagen, I was raised myself in Denmark… That’s just how you do it.”
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It’s common practise to park strollers outside shops and restaurants in the Scandinavian nation, where crime rates are low and parents extol the health benefits of exposing babies to cold air. Not so in the US, though. Seeing Sørensen’s pram occupied and unattended on the footpath, someone called police.
“I said, ‘I’m leaving now,’ and [the officer] said, ‘No, you’re not: You’re arrested,’” she said. “It was unreal… I never, ever thought this could happen.”
Sørensen and the baby’s father were charged with child endangerment. She was jailed for 36 hours, and her daughter was taken into protective custody. It was four days before mother and baby were reunited, and several weeks of court appearances before authorities ultimately withdrew their case.
The story was followed in 2015 by that of Louise Fielden, a British police officer who was arrested after leaving her 15-month-old son sleeping alone in a Manhattan hotel room for 75 minutes.
Like Sørensen, the mother argued that the practise was “normal and acceptable” in her culture, and was ultimately cleared of charges.
For the Dane, the US approach reflects the country’s overly protective parenting style.
“People live in fear. Children are not allowed to play in the playground alone,” she said.
“That’s why it’s important for me now to get [my book] into English, to show it’s possible to live another way.”
Top Comments
Crime rates might be low in Denmark but not so in the US. I don’t know why you would do it. Had she seen other mothers do it there? Unlikely. So why do it just because you do it at home? That’s just ignorance of the law and “the culture” you reside in. You’re in another jurisdiction, you abide by their laws no matter how much you disagree with or dislike them. Had I seen that I would’ve called the police too. Funny thing is I had no idea this was even a thing in Denmark- when I visited there I saw no evidence of this. Maybe it’s only in certain parts or smaller towns
Nope, it's actually quite common in a lot of Scandanavian countries. I think her point is valid: parents do trend towards over-protectiveness. It is at the very least educational to be made aware there are other ways of doing things.
Without doubt but you adhere to the laws of the country you are in, not the country you come from.
Her point is about raising awareness of a different approach to parenting, not arguing about the laws of different countries.
Maybe so but there’s other ways of doing this.
Just because it is legal and normal in your country does not mean it is in others. She claims to have lived in NYC for a while and that is how she met the father of her child, if she really did live there for as long as she claims, then she would have known just how dangerous NYC can be. Not to mention she would have noticed that NO ONE leaves their child outside in the stroller while they go into any place, no matter what the reason. We take our kids with us.