Pregnant and in crisis? There are options available for Londoners

Days after a newborn was found on the front porch of an east London home, local children's agencies are reminding pregnant people in crisis there are places to go for help.

London police found a newborn baby on the front porch of a house on Sterling Street near Oxford Street on Wednesday afternoon. A note left with the baby boy said he was a day old and the mother wanted someone to care for him.

"Sometimes people don't have a lot of supports connected to them, so they may feel isolated and alone and not sure how to navigate their pregnancy," said Carrie Thomas, director of service at the Children's Aid Society London and Middlesex (CASLM).

There are several reasons why a pregnant person may surrender their baby such as mental health or economic and social challenges, she said, which can raise concerns about whether or not they are able to parent.

Pregnant women in crisis can reach out to CASLM for support in caring for their newborn, Thomas said, which can range from temporarily putting them into the agency's care or surrendering them. 

While CASLM said it cannot comment on if it is involved in this specific case, it said when a baby does enters its care, connecting with the family is a priority.

"We have an obligation to work on reunification with a parent," Thomas said, adding CASLM will also seek out a child's extended family members before considering foster care as an option. 

Even then, Thomas said, CASLM tries to stay in contact and meet with them and further assess the situation.

"I think a woman who surrenders her baby or finds alternative care is a selfless act," said Dr. Laura Lyons, the medical director of family medicine obstetrics at London Health Sciences Centre.  

"I think it's probably the hardest choice that a woman would have to make in her life."

Lyons works with pregnant women facing mental health and addiction challenges through a clinic at the London InterCommunity Health Centre. While some women may want to take care of their child, she said they will surrender their newborn because they cannot provide proper care due to homelessness, food scarcity and poor health. 

"Being involved with women who are in that very difficult situation because they have not reached a good place in terms of mental health stabilization or addiction recovery, it's something that really breaks women apart," Lyons said. 

The clinic is another option for pregnant women to get care and social services, helping them get their feet off the ground before giving birth. New parents can also consider connecting directly with private adoption agencies, she said. 

London family lawyer Stephanie Ouellette says she has worked on cases where parents who previously surrendered their newborn want to get them back into their own care, but that can be a challenge, she said.

"If somebody has regrets and now they want their child back, well now they've abandoned their child so the Children's Aid Society is going to have some significant concerns about their ability to provide care," she said. 

The circumstances of how the child was surrendered also makes a difference if the case goes to court, she said. 

"In a scenario where a person just abandons their child, the society starts a court application and has to serve the parent," she said. "If that parent steps forward and says, 'I had a lapse of judgment and I'm absolutely capable and want to care for this child,' they'll have to bring a motion to the court to do that."

"If a parent wants their child back, they're going to have to fight for that," Ouellette said.