Update on Buffalo’s “Dumpster Baby”

According to multiple newspaper reports, Colleen Smith was sentenced on January 13, 2004, to 3 ˝ years in prison for throwing her newborn daughter in a dumpster on March 14.  She had given birth in her college dorm in March and was arrested later when the body was found.  In October the body was claimed by the Smith family for private disposition.

Because Smith accepted plea bargaining she will not go on trial and the details of her story may never be known.  However, it is known that she did not want to tell her parents of her pregnancy and also did not take steps to get an abortion.  An op-ed piece in the Buffalo news commented that she was remorseful for what she had done to her daughter, whom she had named Madison.

In New York State, a “Safe Haven” law provides that women like Smith, can take the newborn baby to a safe place such as a hospital.  With the safety of the infant provided for, the mother cannot be prosecuted for abandoning the child.

Updated on RARTL March 2004