Kelley, Tina. “Parents in Crisis Have Many Options for Giving Babies Haven.” The New York Times 5 March 2008 30 April 2008 <http://www.newyorktimes.com/2008/03/05/nyregion/05baby.html>.

Bookrags.com, “Child Abandonment In Real Life.” Bookrags.com 30 April 2008 <http://www.bookrags.com/printerfriendly/?p=wiki&u=Child_abandonment>.

Long, Justin D. “Abandoned Children and Infants.” Monday Morning Reality Check 30 April 2008 <http://www.gcts.edu/ockenga/globalchristianity/mmrc/mmrc9818.htm>.

Pinker, Steven. “Why They Kill Their Newborns .” New York Times 02 November 1997 30 April 2008 <http://www.rightgrrl.com/carolyn/pinker.html>.

Edwards, Kim. “The Memory Keepers Daughter.” Lifetime Network 12 April 2008 12 April 2008 <http://www.mylifetime.com/on-tv/movies/memory-keepers-daughter>.

In the beginning of this paper I wanted to know why people abandon their children.  I think I was looking for more of a view from what makes parents not want there children or what makes them just walk away and never look back.

 I started out with using myself as an example initially writing what my feelings were from my childhood about my father not having anything to do with me.  I wanted to know why he didn’t want anything to do with me.  I couldn’t bring myself to contact him, just to have some research for a paper for a college class.  I have so much anger towards him and now is not the time in my life when I need that.  I didn’t have much luck looking specifically for things about what makes people just walk away from there children and not want anything to do with them.  What I did find was a lot of factual information about child abandonment around the world.  I read about countries that have a 1 child limit such as China and promote the abandoning of little girls because they aren’t the preferred sex of child.  I also read some interesting things about authors throughout history that have used child abandonment as sort of a tool to induce excitement in literature.  Stories of children being raised by wolves and things of that nature.

 I guess in a way I failed to answer my initial question about why fathers and mothers just walk away, but gained some strong factual information about something that is very real in times past and present about babies being left for dead and children just being left to take care of themselves.  I also learned that I am not the only person out there who feels abandoned, I found a fellow classmate who had both of her parents abandon her.  I guess I just learned that while I felt abandoned by him I should have been grateful to have at least one parent to love and care for me because a lot of children out there don’t. 

By Tina Kelley

The beginning of this article starts out with the author Tina Kelley describing a scene that is becoming all to real, a 6 month old baby dressed all in pink dropped off at a fire station in Queens NY because her family couldn’t care for her anymore.  This article describes some options that are available to parents instead of just abandoning their child.

     What happens when as a new mother the late night feedings and diaper changes become too much?   Well there are a lot of options available according to Long, a place called New York Foundling agency has what they call a crisis nursery where parents can take their children if they simply can’t take the responsibilities of parenthood.  I think this is such a good idea, whether it is only for a few hours or permanently it relieves the parents stress and puts the child out of harms way.  The city I grew up in had something like this, only it was like a crisis day care for parents.  They could drop the kids off and just take a breather for themselves.  Maybe if more cities had these there would be less children being abandoned.

     In this article that Long published she states that last year 2007 26 babies were left at safe haven place like fire stations and police stations in New York state.  I think this really does go to show that if these programs are in place they can make a difference. As of right now all 50 states currently have safe haven laws and the District of Columbia is expected to pass 1 this April.   

Throughout literature children have been referred to as foundlings and written about how they were abandonded.  In stories the most common reasons for children being abandoned are oracles that the child will cause harm, the mothers desire to conceal her illegitimate child.  In greek mythology and roman tales these children escaped death to be re-united with their families for example the story of Longus’s Daphis and Chloe tells this tale.  It is believed that literature reflect child abandonment in our cultures.  Shakespeare even wrote about it, in the story of the abandonment and discovery of Perdita in the Winter’s Tale.  In my opinion seeing how this has been written about in literature as much as it has tells me that this has been happening for a long time.  I guess i never really thought about this topic too much affecting other people, i just wanted to know why my dad left me and it has turned into an exploration of so much more than just my personal need for closure, but that it is a widespread issue. 

By Justin D Long

In this article the author Justin long writes about several causes of child abandonment.  He says that child abandonment is an extreme form of child abuse and some of the causes of the abandonment are family breakdown, irresponsible fatherhood, illegitimate birth and many others.  In his article he writes that more than 60 million children and infants have been abandoned by their families and fend for themselves or end up in orphanages.  According to a human rights report street children are often viewed as vermin, and thousands were murdered throughout the 90’s by police officers who it as no more than a form of “social cleansing”.  I kind of believe this because when I was serving on the USS Ronald Reagan and we went to brazil, we heard stories of this happening.  There were thousands of little children running around everywhere begging for whatever we would give them.  It seems so sad to me that this happens.  Why do women continue to have children if they can’t take care of them?  He also writes about China and their little girls who are often abandoned because they are not the preferred sex of child.  Chinese culture allows for only one child per family offers rewards to families with one child and penalizes others with additional children.  In china abandoned children are often left to die beside roadsides, rivers, and railway stations.  In the US more than 7,000 children are abandoned each year according to Long.  I feel like this is the worst thing to read about, there are so many families out there who want to adopt a child that there is no reason for any child to be just left to fend for itself.

This article also tells you about how historically cultures practiced child abandonment as a way of infantcide.  By doing this they simply left the child alone someplace and let them die from cold or hunger or being eaten by a wild animal.  I think this sounds like a horrible way for anyone die let alone a child.  What mother could simply dump her child and leave it to fend for itself. 

Studies have shown that countries with liberal adoption laws have a lower incidence rate of child abandonment.  By allowing people to easily adopt it seems that is making some people more likely to give their child away rather than to simply leave it somewhere to die. I think if every country had laws like this there would be a lot less abortions of unwanted kids and even less infantcide.

In the US abandoned children aren’t as common as in poorer nations but you still hear about it.  It’s so sad to hear about these children that are thrown in dumpsters or trash cans and discarded as if they never really had any real value.  Even with measures in place that allow women who don’t want there new babies can drop them off at a fire station, church or police station some children are still just left to die someplace with the parent hoping they are never discovered. 

It saddens me think how many people are out there who can’t have children and want one and that there are people still just throwing away babies. 

In one part of his paper he seems to say that mammals as a whole put alot into raising off spring and sometimes mother animals kill the babies that they instinctually know won’t survive.  I understand this theory but I don’t really think it applies to modern day culture.  We have so many advances in medicine and technology that even if a mother didn’t feel her baby could survive on it’s on, that doesn’t mean science couldn’t enable the kid to live a healthy life.  In my opinion this isn’t a valid reason for anyone to kill their young. 

 A point is also made in Pinker’s paper that many young women simply kill their young because they are afraid of getting in trouble.  I guess when I was a teenager I would have thought the same thing, but I knew I could go to my family if something like this happend.  I can’t help but to maybe blame the parents of some of these girls, if they had raised there children to be open and not be scared then maybe some of these babies deaths could have been prevented.

In Chapman’s paper I think he simply does a lot of Pinker bashing without providing many facts.   He kind of make a valid point about how non-chalant society is starting to become towards these girls.  Yes at first glance it’s very sad to read about but then you move on to the next story and forget all about it.  He does seem to mock Pinker’s survival of the fittest theory, as to why girls are killing their babies.  He stesses that Pinker makes no mention of any kind of moral or religious code being broken when these killings happen.  It seems to me these are two different writers with very differing opinions on this subject.  Pinker seems to take the evoluntinary theory and Chapman seems to have more of a religious vew of things, at lest in my opinion anyway.  Perhaps both people are correct in there thinking, afterall everyone is entitled to there own opinion.

Why do men abandon their children?

I know what if feels like to feel abandoned.  At the age of 2 my parents got divorced and my father wanted nothing to do with me.  He didn’t want to provide the essentials to provide for me.  He didn’t care whether or not I was sick and didn’t have health care.  He just acted like I didn’t exist.  Although sometimes I feel like I’m the only person out there to expierience this, I’m not and that is sad to me.  I’ve run across many people in my life whose stories are similiar to mine, especially other women.  It’s strange to sit down and talk to someone who feels the same way I do, to have had to the same issues growing up that I did.  It’s sad to sit down and share those stories about the times you were ashamed as a child when your school or girl scout troop would have daddy daughter events and you had no one to take with you.  It made me inadeqate even as a child.  I longed to be loved and have a father but I just never did.

This topic is such a big deal for me because it really has shaped my life and kind of made me who I am.  The older I’ve gotten the more I feel such anger towards ”that” man.  Why could he not love me?  But at the same time I want him to know me and know what he’s missed out on.  I want to rub in his face all the things I’ve accomplished and he has had nothing to do with.  I’m his only child, or so his mother says and it saddens me to think that he could pass away today and I couldn’t care less.  I have so many questions to ask and no one really to ask them too.