News sources are now reporting that a 19-year-old Wisconsin woman is in jail for neglect causing the death of her young infant. Indra Book stopped breastfeeding her baby and allowed her to die. A friend of hers is charged with covering up the child’s death.
The LaCrosse County District Attorney told the media that the parents could have given up the baby under the state’s safe haven laws. This would have brought the baby to safety while maintaining the anonymity of the parents.
There is much that is still unknown about this case. The mother has given conflicting statements. The baby reportedly died last August—some media have said the child was 18 hours old at most, others have said two days. The mother allegedly hid the body until a friend helped her dispose of it this spring. The child’s body has still not been found (if you really want the gruesome details, follow this link to the LaCrosse Tribune). The case came to light in July, nearly a year after the birth and death of Book’s baby girl, following an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers.
Book apparently didn’t know of her pregnancy until she was about five months along. Her co-workers say she never appeared pregnant. She said that lack of medical insurance prevented her from seeking prenatal care and from going to a hospital for the birth. Book’s story is that she gave birth alone at home. She says the baby was moving, but taking only shallow breaths and never really crying. She cut the cord, and wrapped the baby in a towel. She tried unsuccessfully several times to breastfeed the baby. She knew the baby would die without being fed. She acknowledged that she knew she probably wasn’t doing enough for the baby, but she didn’t know what to do, so she did nothing. She fell asleep on the couch, with the baby next to her, and slept for about eight hours. About eight to twelve hours after she awoke, she noticed that the child was dead.
In terms of how this news event relates to the topic of adoption, what initially caught my eye was the DA’s statement that there was no reason for Book not to have used the safe haven laws to bring her child to a place where she could get help. Then, interestingly, I read that Book had told her boyfriend last summer (her boyfriend was not the child’s father) that she would give the baby up for adoption. The mother claimed that she contacted adoption agencies who refused to handle her case because she had had no prenatal care.
About a week after the baby’s birth and death, Book told her boyfriend the child was stillborn and there would be no funeral.
Book’s boss at a café where she worked says that Book was a generally good employee but needed a lot of direction. I’m sure future court arguments will look at whether she has a cognitive disability. But prosecutors say Book acknowledged that she knew the baby would die without taking food, and that Book’s hiding of the body shows she knew she had committed a crime.
Please see these related blogs:
Do You Know What a Safe Haven Is?
Babies in the News: Japan’s Baby Mail Box