Infant Safe Haven Laws

If you are not able to raise your child, you can contact an adoption agency.  However, there are other emergency related options open to you.

To address infant abandonment and infanticide, Infant Safe Haven Laws have been passed to allow a birth mother in crisis to safely put her baby into a safe haven. Safe haven providers include hospitals, emergency medical services, police stations, and fire stations.  Safe haven laws currently exist in almost all 50 U.S.

The best option is for a birth mother to contact a licensed adoption agency, such as Adoption Services, but the safe haven laws are an option and generally allow the biological parent to remain anonymous and to be shielded from prosecution for abandonment or neglect.  In most states custody of the infant who has been placed in a safe haven is transferred to the state child welfare or child protective services department and then placed into foster care.

To see how your State addresses this issue, view the complete printable PDF, Infant Safe Haven Laws: Summary of State Laws.  To review the adoption law in your state, please visit ChildAdoptionLaws.com.

For more information visit the website PregnancyandChildren.com and for additional help regarding adoption, please visit AdoptionServices.org. and contact Adoption Services or contact Dr Vince Berger.  Dr. Berger is a licensed psychologist who has been helping birth mothers, birth fathers, and adopting families for 40 years.

For immediate and personal help contact Dr. Berger at Adoption Services.  He is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.