Let’s talk risk.

Real, proven risk.

There is real risk of accidental injury to newborns leaving hospitals by car, which is why hospitals require infants traveling to be transported in car seats.

There is real risk to newborns if new parents are not skilled in feeding because infants can dehydrate quickly and lose a dangerous amount of weight in the early weeks of life, which is why hospitals provide education on feeding and provide information about support groups for new parents.

There is real risk in caretaker abuse of a cranky infant, which is also why hospitals teach parents what to expect in those early months that are so often filled with anxiety and can be sparse on restful sleep.

Despite the reality that there is no statistical evidence that newborns are abducted after births are announced in local newspapers, The Center for Missing & Exploited Children has recommended that hospitals stop issuing birth announcements because of the danger that a would-be kidnapper might be able to locate a newborn with a uniquely spelled name in a certain town.

It has never happened in Maine, but Maine Medical Center has stopped sending out the announcements. Mercy Hospital is expected to follow, and Central Maine Medical Center is considering doing the same. It’s unnecessary.

Risk management, like car seats and educating new parents on the importance of nutrition and patience, is always a good idea. Introducing the worry of artificial risk is not.

Newspapers publish birth announcements as a public service to readers, at no charge to new parents, and to maintain the public record of the people in our communities. Genealogists and historians rely on published birth and death notices to trace family lines. Halting this flow of information when there is no demonstrated risk to infants creates a real obstacle for future researchers.

What’s next? No obituaries because survivors could be targeted? No school honor rolls because children could be identified? No boot camp graduations because spouses may be assumed to be home alone?

At some point, when information is readily available in so many forms – like birth certificates in public files in town offices – risk from one source of information can be negligible.

Hospitals have long sought permission of parents before releasing birth announcements, which guarantees parents are aware of the publicity. By stopping this practice, hospitals are burdening new parents with the extra chore of contacting local newspapers themselves and providing proof of birth, and creating true obstacles in tracking genealogy.

St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center and Rumford Hospital have it right. They give parents the option of making announcement of their child’s birth, putting the decision where it belongs: with the parents.

Maine Med and Mercy are holding up an artificial risk in developing overboard policies to stop birth announcements. It’s bad policy for families now and for historians later.