Allie Jennerjahn joined the Denver7 news team in March 2024 as a morning reporter. She was born and raised in Hartford City, Indiana.
Gov. Jared Polis has signed a bill expanding Colorado's safe haven law, giving parents up to 30 days after a newborn's birth to legally surrender the child.
The previous deadline was 72 hours. Fire stations and hospitals are among the places where a child can be surrendered safely and legally under the law. Sara Wagner, executive director at Colorado Safe Haven for Newborns, said the original 72-hour deadline was arbitrary. The law was created in 2000, and she said that number was used to create some urgency.
More information has since been gathered on factors like postpartum emotion, and when this legislation was pushed forward, Wagner said Colorado was one of only six states that had not changed the deadline to 30 days.
'So under the Safe Haven law, one of the pieces is that the birth mother's information is redacted. It's completely anonymous, just giving the birth mother that opportunity to surrender the baby safely, anonymously. There are no legal repercussions,' Bre Stemper, who adopted a Safe Haven baby, said. Stemper and her husband adopted their son Dominic when he was 4 weeks old.
She calls what her son's birth mother did 'incredibly courageous,' highlighting the different circumstances that may prompt a mother ti choose this route — from hiding a teen pregnancy to being unable to care for the child for a whole host of reasons.
'I don't know if we'll ever get a chance to meet her, but if we do, I would just, you know, thank her from the bottom of my heart for for what she did, because I'm sure it was incredibly, incredibly difficult,' Stemper said. State data shows the safe haven law was used eight times in Colorado last year, with eight newborns surrendered.
West Metro Fire Station 1 has not had a surrender in 11 years, according to a spokesperson there. Wagner said any hospital or fire department wanting more training on safe haven protocol can reach out to Colorado Safe Haven for Newborns. The state's expanded safe haven law takes effect in August. This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI.
Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
Colorado 2026 Colorado Safe Haven For Newborns Colorado Safe Haven Law Sara Wagner Infant Surrender Newborn Surrender Law Postpartum Safe Haven 30 Days Safe Haven Fire Station
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