The State House News Service reports that 2005 marked the first year in the last two decades that no newborns were abandoned in Massachusetts. Officials credit the state's Baby Safe Haven law with bringing about this change. Councillor Tobin was the leader in getting Boston to pass a Safe Haven law that became a model for the statewide legislation passed shortly thereafter.

Last year, one baby was surrendered under the law's guidelines. In March, the baby was turned in to a Merrimack Valley area hospital, said Department of Social Services spokeswoman Denise Monteiro.

The child's adoption will be finalized "pretty soon," Monteiro said. Details of the adoption and the child's surrender are kept confidential to ensure parents remain anonymous, she said.

Another incident last year involved a woman who surrendered her three-month-old baby at a police station. Although that case was not covered under the safe haven law because the baby was too old, Monteiro said the department was working with the mother to ensure the child is placed in a safe home.

"If you can't take care of your baby, we'd prefer that it be surrendered than it be left out in the cold," she said.

Under the law, the Department of Social Services is immediately granted custody of the infant and is responsible for placing the baby in a foster home.

Michael Morrissey, a leading advocate of the law and a member of the board of directors for the National Safe Haven Alliance, said this is a case where no news is good news. "Suddenly a police station became a non-threatening environment, which had never happened before," he said.

Jack Collins, general counsel for the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, agreed. "I've heard nothing," said Collins, who also served on the state's advisory committee for the law's implementation. "And if there were horror stories I certainly would have heard them."