Abduction fear cancels birth notices
Hospital says parents can pass news along
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – In a blow to newspaper tradition, and perhaps a signal of the death of small-town innocence, an Alaska hospital has stopped the longtime practice of announcing births out of fear it could lead to the abduction of an infant.
Mat-Su Regional Medical Center, the hospital outside Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s hometown of Wasilla, listed newborns with the local newspaper if parents signed a consent form. The practice stopped Jan. 1.
Parents can contact the newspaper if they want to announce the birth of their children, said hospital spokeswoman Kerry Aguirre.
“We want to make sure the parents are aware of all the things they can do to make sure the baby is safe,” Aguirre said. “This is just one more thing we are doing to keep the baby safe.”
Mat-Su Regional is part of Tennessee-based Community Health Systems, which owns, operates or leases more than 110 hospitals in 28 states, including Deaconess Medical Center in Spokane and Valley Hospital and Medical Center in Spokane Valley. Community Health spokeswoman Tomi Galin said the birth announcement decision was made locally but that many hospitals have discontinued the practice as a child safety measure.
The policy is based in part on guidelines provided by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children based in Alexandria, Va.
The center acknowledges that newborn and infant snatching is rare. Cathy Nahirny, administrative manager for training and outreach, said the center has recorded 256 cases between 1983 through 2008 of infants being abducted by non-family members. That’s fewer than 12 per year out of the 4.2 million U.S. babies born annually at more than 3,500 birthing facilities.
In just four cases over 25 years, the center concluded, the abductor used information found in a birth announcement. One kidnapper responded to a lawn decoration noting the birth.
T.C. Mitchell, managing editor of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, called the policy an overreaction.
“I can understand their thinking behind it, but even nationally, I don’t think it’s a huge problem,” Mitchell said.
Births and obituaries are a staple of community newspapers – the start and finish of readers’ lives, Mitchell said. “We’re all about getting names in,” he said.
The newspaper does not print addresses with birth announcements.
Mitchell wrote an editorial in response to the policy.
“It’s a sad day when families can’t clip out a birth announcement from the local newspaper and tuck it away in a scrapbook or family Bible because of misplaced corporate paranoia,” he wrote.