Florida Catholic | Safe Havens

Rural parishioners push for safe havens for newborns

KATHY GROBE | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT

Published: 01.18.08

Nicole Botino, with her daughter, Aubrey, helped with a November fundraiser conducted on the Madison County courthouse lawn by members of St. Margaret Parish in Monticello and St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Madison. Botino’s father–in–law, Juan Botino, an emergency medical technician, established the first safe haven at the firehouse where he is stationed.
Courtesy Photo

While no baby has been saved in the region so far, Safe Haven has saved nearly 90 babies statewide.

MADISON | “No child left behind.” “It takes a village to raise a child.” Tucked away in rural north Florida, the small towns of Monticello and Madison have taken these concepts to heart, working to make sure every child has a chance, right from the very beginning.

Under the direction of Oblate Missionary Father John Gordon, pastor, parishioners at St. Vincent de Paul in Madison and St. Margaret in Monticello are working to develop and publicize a network of “safe havens” — places where struggling parents of newborns can leave the babies, no questions asked, as an alternative to abandoning them in dumpsters, on roadsides or in other dangerous places.

The Florida Legislature in 2000 enacted a law that allows a parent to leave with impunity a baby 3 days old or younger at a hospital, fire or emergency medical services station or similar site that is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. However, the law alone can’t save babies if places that meet the criteria are scarce — as they tend to be in rural areas — or if desperate parents of newborns don’t know where they are.

www.asafehavenfornewborns.com

Father Gordon and his parishioners see tackling those obstacles as a way to improve the lives of northwest Florida children, while at the same time establishing themselves in their communities and educating others about their faith.

“Coming into the Bible Belt was a real eye-opener for me,” Father Gordon said. “I was used to Miami, where there is a Catholic church on virtually every corner. One of the goals of our ‘Sharing the Vision’ CARA (Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate) survey was to help the community know and understand us better, and we wanted to make our effort personal.” Rather than just a public-relations campaign or a get-acquainted potluck supper, the parishes wanted to make a meaningful contribution to their communities.

Father Gordon came to the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee from a stint as associate pastor at Christ the King Parish in Perrine, in suburban Miami, and he brought with him a friendship with Nicholas Silverio, a parishioner there and founder of A Safe Haven for Newborns. The nonprofit program was a driving force behind the infant abandonment law enacted in Florida and similar laws in other states. It continues to support efforts to make the laws more meaningful. Once sites agree to participate in Safe Haven, parents can contact them through the program hot line or simply deliver the newborn to safety.

With an invitation from Father Gordon, his former priest and Safe Haven board member, Silverio journeyed to north Florida, where he introduced his program to the two parish communities. He told them he founded the Gloria M. Silverio Foundation and A Safe Haven for Newborns to honor his late wife, who had died in a car crash. He instilled in them the realization that this was how they wanted to make their mark, to show Catholicism at its best while making a tangible contribution.

“It helped us get a sense of our own identity as Catholics,” Father Gordon recalled. “We became the first two churches in Florida to adopt the Safe Haven program, and now we are working to get a chapter established here.”

Fundraising was next on the agenda, he said. “We started with a fundraising lunch on the (Madison County) courthouse lawn organized by our Knights of Columbus and our youth group. We sold 700 lunches to folks from around the community.”

Shortly after the early November 2007 lunch, posters in both English and Spanish appeared in store windows and elsewhere around the two towns. Juan Botino, St. Vincent de Paul parishioner and a Madison County emergency medical technician, established the area’s first haven at the firehouse where he works.

“There has been good and generous support for Save Haven in both communities,” Father Gordon noted, mentioning Monticello businesswoman Odie Vandenburg as one of the program’s staunchest supporters. Posters in both Spanish and English appear in the windows of her coin-operated laundry, and she once appeared before the congregation in Madison, seeking assistance for a young area resident who needed surgery.

Father Gordon admits that it can be tough establishing a program, even one as important as Safe Haven, in an area like rural north Florida. Part of the challenge stems from the fact that the “haven” must be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“Some places just aren’t set up for it,” he noted. “It definitely is more of a challenge here than in Miami, which is overloaded with hospitals.” There are challenges, as well, in reaching out to northwest Florida’s growing Hispanic community, helping its members while being respectful of their culture, he said.

Father Gordon, a New York native, hasn’t forgotten his original goal of presenting his faith to the non-Catholics in the community.

“We’re trying to get (Safe Haven) stickers placed on dumpsters around the county, hoping to provide an option in what might be someone’s last second of rationality,” he said. “It’s tough, because we’re trying not to push Safe Haven as Catholic or pro-life since we want to get more universal acceptance. We want to catechize; people need to understand why we believe what we believe.”

While no baby has been saved in the region so far, Safe Haven has saved nearly 90 babies statewide. Father Gordon points to a photograph taken at the fundraising lunch in November. In it, Nicole Botino, daughter-in-law of the paramedic who opened the Madison County firehouse to Safe Haven, holds daughter Aubrey in front of a large Safe Haven poster.

“This is what it’s all about,” he said, smiling.

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Rural parishioners push for safe havens for newborns

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