[frutiger]

At least in NY State, babies up to 30 days old can be left for care by the state.

> New York State's Abandoned Infant Protection Act allows a parent to abandon a newborn baby up to 30 days of age anonymously and without fear of prosecution, as long as the baby is abandoned in a safe manner.

> A parent is not guilty of a crime if the infant is left with an appropriate person or in a suitable location and the parent promptly notifies an appropriate person of the infant's location. A hospital or a staffed police or fire station are examples of safe and suitable choices.

> A person leaving an infant under this law is not required to give his or her name.

[zamadatix]

I think every state has a similar type of safe haven law these days. This one for NY first came out the same summer as the story in the article starts. This and similar stories were making a lot of news around the time and people were really interested in trying to help. It doesn't make things perfect, there are e.g. still occasional situations where a person isn't in their own control or in a sane state, but these kinds of changes did help thousands of cases since.

I think a lot of school sex ed programs/health classes have started teaching this to kids as well. Not all of course, as with most things sex ed.