June 25, 2001 -- The news reports are sporadic, but chilling: infant found in Dumpster, in river. Five years ago, Debi Faris was standing in her kitchen making dinner when one such news report came on TV. A newborn boy had been found dead, stuffed in a bag tossed along a Los Angeles freeway.

"I thought, how could anybody throw away a child, a human being," says Faris, who found herself driven to follow up. "I called police, the coroner's office," she tells WebMD. "I said, 'I can't keep walking until I find out what happens to this baby.'" Cremation and eventual burial in a mass grave is the fate, she learned.

Faris decided to take personal responsibility for the infant, whom she came to call "Mathew," and others. She founded Garden of Angels, a special cemetery is Southern California where 45 abandoned children now have their own simple memorial cross -- and each has a name she's given them.

Soon after, Faris helped convince the California legislature to pass what's become known as the "Save the Baby" law. It allows a mother to legally surrender her baby, anonymously and without fear of prosecution, to any hospital emergency room employee, within 72 hours of birth. Since the law took effect on Jan. 1 this year, three babies have been rescued, Faris tells WebMD.

A Movement Is Born

Faris is not alone in her concern. Across the country, efforts ranging from legislation to grassroots action are springing up. People are grappling to understand what drives women to abandon babies and how to help them -- mother and child.

In fact, no one is even sure how big the problem is. There are no hard statistics about numbers of babies abandoned; one survey of newspaper articles -- conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services in 1999 -- shows that 65 reports were made nationwide in 1991; 108 were made in 1998.

"That's only what is reported," says Monica Chopra, with the Child Welfare League of America. "Who knows how many babies are never found?"

Legislation has passed with a speed atypical of most state governments, Chopra tells WebMD. In the past two years, 28 states have passed bills similar to California's. These so-called "safe haven" laws all provide amnesty for mothers who relinquish babies in the first 72 hours to 30 days after birth; the child then goes into state custody and can be placed in foster care or adopted.

However, the bulk of these laws are "feel-good legislation" that allocate no funds to make the programs work -- even to get the word to women, says Joyce Johnson, also with the Child Welfare League. "I think people are looking for simple, easy solutions. People have jumped on this bandwagon, but there are no funds for prevention, for counseling."

A Movement Is Born continued...

Statistics bear out her concern: In California, two newborns were abandoned by their mothers just days after the state passed its law. At least 11 babies have been discarded in Florida since last July, despite that state's new law.