MASON CITY – Iowa, along with 30 other states, has established “safe havens” for newborns as an alternative for parents in crisis.
Iowa’s safe haven law requires parents to act within 14 days of birth of a child.
According to the Iowa Department of Human Services, The Safe Haven Act is a law that allows parents – or another person who has the parent’s authorization – to leave an infant up to 14 days old at a hospital or health care facility without fear of prosecution for abandonment.
A Safe Haven is an institutional health facility – such as a hospital or health care facility. According to the law – an “institutional health facility” means:
- A “hospital” as defined in Iowa Code section 135B.1, including a facility providing medical or health services that is open twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week and is a hospital emergency room, or
- A “health care facility” as defined in Iowa Code section 135C.1 means a residential care facility, a nursing facility, an intermediate care facility for persons with mental illness, or an intermediate care facility for persons with mental retardation.
The Safe Haven Act provides immunity from civil or criminal liability for hospitals, health care facilities, and persons employed by those facilities that perform reasonable acts necessary to protect the physical health and safety of the infant.
(PHOTO: In Mason City, Mercy Hospital (pictured) would qualify as a safe haven according to the Iowa Department of Human Services. A “hospital” as defined in Iowa Code section 135B.1, including a facility providing medical or health services that is open twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week and is a hospital emergency room.)
A parent who leaves an infant at a safe haven in not required to provide identifying information and cannot be charged with abandonment.
The parent may directly relinquish custody of an infant to an individual on duty at a hospital, a residential care facility, a nursing facility, an intermediate care facility for persons with mental illness, or an intermediate care facility for persons with mental retardation.
Another option a parent has is to leave the infant at a hospital or health care facility and immediately contact the facility or call a 911 service to be sure that:
- An individual on duty is aware of the location of the infant, AND
- The facility knows an infant has been left there under provisions of the Safe Haven Act.
Other states have similar laws. According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Nebraska’s law drew widespread attention in 2008 because it allowed parents to surrender children of all ages. Within two months of the law’s enactment, six parents had deposited 14 children, including seven teens, at area hospitals. The law was changed later that year to apply only to infants within 30 days of their birth. The Tribune also reported that Minnesota’s law requires mothers to actually surrender their babies to medical authorities, not just leave the children at the door. Minnesota’s law still gives women opportunities to change their minds and to reclaim the children they abandoned, although they would be subject to child welfare investigations and have to prove they would present no threat of harm to the children. North Dakota allows parents to surrender children within their first year of birth to hospitals.
