Utah

We are dedicated to saving the lives of precious newborns, WHATEVER IT TAKES, as every life is precious.

We assist the pregnant woman or mother in a compassionate way to receive the help and support she needs.

REMEMBER, It is the Law-the baby MUST be given to a staff member at a Safe Haven facility. Tell them you are leaving the baby with “Safe Haven”.

ANONYMITY -We respect and protect the callers right to anonymity at all times.

MEDICAL HISTORY- Asking for and the mother providing medical history information is optional.

Ann. Code 62A-4a-801; 62A-4a-802

Infant’s Age

Citation: Ann. Code § 62A-4a-801

A newborn child may be relinquished. The term ‘newborn child’ means a child who is approximately 72 hours old or younger, as determined within a reasonable degree of medical certainty.

Who May Relinquish the Infant

Citation: Ann. Code § 62A-4a-802

The parent or parent’s designee may relinquish the child.

Who May Receive the Infant

Citation: Ann. Code §§ 62A-4a-801; 62A-4a-802

A parent or a parent’s designee may safely relinquish a newborn child at a hospital. The term ‘hospital’ means a general acute hospital that is:

•        Equipped with an emergency room

•        Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

•       Staffed by full-time health-care professionals who have emergency medical services training

Responsibilities of the Safe Haven Provider

Citation: Ann. Code § 62A-4a-802

Personnel employed by a hospital shall accept a newborn child who is relinquished and may presume that the person relinquishing is the child’s parent or the parent’s designee.

The person receiving the newborn child may request information regarding the parent and newborn child’s medical histories and identifying information regarding the non relinquishing parent of the child. Personnel employed by a hospital shall provide any necessary medical care to the child and notify the Division of Child and Family Services as soon

as possible but no later than 24 hours after receipt of the child.

Immunity for the Provider

Citation: Ann. Code § 62A-4a-802

A hospital and personnel employed by a hospital are immune from any civil or criminal liability arising from accepting a newborn child if the personnel employed by the hospital substantially comply with the provisions of this part and medical treatment is administered according to standard medical practice.

Protection for Relinquishing Parent

Citation: Ann. Code § 62A-4a-802

A parent or a parent’s designee may safely relinquish a newborn child at a hospital and retain complete anonymity as long as the child has not been subject to abuse or neglect.

Safe relinquishment of a newborn child who has not otherwise been subject to abuse or neglect shall not, in and of itself, constitute neglect, and the child shall not be considered a neglected child as long as the relinquishment is carried out in substantial compliance with these provisions.

As long as the person relinquishing a newborn child is the child’s parent or the parent’s designee and there is no abuse or neglect, safe relinquishment of a newborn child in substantial compliance with these provisions is an affirmative defense to any potential criminal liability for abandonment or neglect relating to that relinquishment.

Effect on Parental Rights

Citation: Ann. Code § 62A-4a-802

The division shall assume care and custody of the child immediately upon notice from the hospital. Unless identifying information relating to the non relinquishing parent of the newborn child has been provided:

•       The division shall work with local law enforcement and the Bureau of Criminal Identification in an effort to ensure that the newborn child has not been identified as a missing child.

•        The division shall immediately place the child in a potential adoptive home and, within 10 days after receipt of the child, file a petition for termination of parental rights.

•        The division shall direct the Office of Vital Records and Statistics to conduct a search for a birth certificate for the child and an Initiation of Proceedings to Establish Paternity Registry for unmarried biological fathers maintained by the Office of Vital Records and Statistics within the Department of Health and provides notice to each potential father identified on the registry. Notice of termination of parental rights proceedings shall be provided in the same manner as is utilized for any other termination proceeding in which the identity of the child’s parents is unknown.

•       If no person has affirmatively identified himself or herself within 2 weeks after notice is complete and established paternity by scientific testing within as expeditious a timeframe as practicable, a hearing on the petition for termination of parental rights shall be scheduled.

•        If a non relinquishing parent is not identified, relinquishment of a newborn child shall be considered grounds for termination of parental rights of both the relinquishing and non relinquishing parents.

The Division shall make efforts to provide for expeditious adoption of the newborn child by contracting with a licensed child-placing agency.[xii]  Prior to adoption of the child if the court determines that it is in the best interest of the child to deny the petition for termination of parental rights, the court may deny the petition.[xiii]

Hospitals and hospital employees receiving a newborn are immune from any civil or criminal liability arising from accepting a newborn if the employee complied with the provisions relating to safe abandonment of newborns and gave necessary medical care to protect the newborn.[xiv]