give away a baby?

keannu · May 19, 2011

When you say "give away a baby", is it "abandon" or "give birth to"? In this drama, the birth mother had the baby adopted right after the birth. It's confusing.

-ghost whisperer
[FONT=&#44404]Jim- Shouldn't you call her first?
Mel- [/FONT][FONT=&#44404]I have to tell a woman the baby she gave away 18 years ago [/FONT][FONT=&#44404]wants to meet her. Then i have to tell her that he's dead.[/FONT][FONT=&#44404] Not the kind of conversation i want to have over the phone[/FONT]

Allen165 · May 19, 2011

keannu said:
When you say "give away a baby", is it "abandon" or "give birth to"? In this drama, the birth mother had the baby adopted right after the birth. It's confusing.

-ghost whisperer
[FONT=&#44404]Jim- Shouldn't you call her first?[/FONT]
[FONT=&#44404]Mel- [/FONT][FONT=&#44404]I have to tell a woman the baby she gave away 18 years ago [/FONT][FONT=&#44404]wants to meet her. Then i have to tell her that he's dead.[/FONT][FONT=&#44404] Not the kind of conversation i want to have over the phone[/FONT]

NOT A TEACHER.

"Give away" means " get rid of" here.

SoothingDave · May 19, 2011

I would read it as "put up for adoption," not to abandon.

bhaisahab · May 19, 2011

SoothingDave said:
I would read it as "put up for adoption," not to abandon.

I agree. I don't think "get rid of" is at all appropriate in the context.

riquecohen · May 19, 2011

Allen165 said:
NOT A TEACHER.

"Give away" means " get rid of" here.

That's a rather harsh judgment. It almost sounds as if she had thrown it out in the trash. People surrender babies for adoption for many different reasons, some of which are in the best interests of the child.

Allen165 · May 19, 2011

riquecohen said:
That's a rather harsh judgment. It almost sounds as if she had thrown it out in the trash. People surrender babies for adoption for many different reasons, some of which are in the best interests of the child.

Yes, but they're still physically getting rid of the baby. I agree that "get rid of" sounds harsh, but the threadstarter didn't provide enough context for me to say why the woman gave the baby away, and I wanted to make it clear that "gave away" did not mean "gave birth to."

Raymott · May 19, 2011

You can also say "adopt out" for "put up for adoption".

keannu · May 19, 2011

Allen165 said:
Yes, but they're still physically getting rid of the baby. I agree that "get rid of" sounds harsh, but the threadstarter didn't provide enough context for me to say why the woman gave the baby away, and I wanted to make it clear that "gave away" did not mean "gave birth to."

Context: The birth mother was a teenager when she gave birth to the baby, and she was a juvenile delinquent, a trouble-maker, and it must have been an unwanted pregnancy. After the delivery, she gave away the baby, and got sent to juvie upstate.

Now, can you define more clearly?

Barb_D · May 19, 2011

She gave the baby up for adoption.

give away a baby?

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