Arkansas Administrative Code
Agency 016 - DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES
Division 15 - Children and Family Services
Rule 016.15.23-001 - Birth Parents Relinquishing Infants for Adoption Under the Safe Haven Act
Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 9, September, 2024
POLICY Vlll-F: BIRTH PARENTS RELINQUISHING INFANTS FOR ADOPTION UNDER THE SAFE HAVEN ACT
Any medical provider, law enforcement agency, or fire department will take possession of a child who is thirty (30) days old or younger, without a court order, if the parents of the child, without expressing an intent to return for the child, leave the child:
A. with or voluntarily deliver the child to a medical provider (including when a parent leaves a newborn child with a medical provider staff member after delivery of the newborn child), law enforcement agency, fire department; or
B. in a newborn safety device as described in Arkansas Code § 9-34-202.
A medical provider, law enforcement agency, or fire department that takes possession of a child under the Safe Haven Act will perform any act necessary to protect the physical health and safety of the child.
A medical provider, law enforcement agency, or fire department will keep the identity of a parent who relinquishes a child under Safe Haven provisions confidential and will not release or otherwise make the identity of the parent available, except to a:
A. law enforcement agency investigating abuse or neglect of the child that was committed before the child was relinquished; or
B. prosecuting attorney pursuing charges against a parent for abuse or neglect of the child that was committed before the child was relinquished.
If the identity of a parent or child is released or made known to the Department of Human Services in violation of § A.C.A. 9-34-202, the case shall proceed as a dependency-neglect action, but with the same protections from liability as if an anonymous Safe Haven surrender was made. As such, the parent shall not be held criminally liable for the relinquishment or have a true finding of maltreatment or abandonment entered against the parent if that parent's identity is known and the Department of Human Services proceeds under § A.C.A. 9-27-341. Rather, a "true but exempt" selection will be made, as applicable, in the Division's approved information management system.
Further, the Department shall not subsequently use a resulting termination of parental rights against a parent who surrendered his or her child as allowed under the Voluntary Placement of a Child chapter in Arkansas law.
Upon delivery of the child (to a medical provider, law enforcement agency, or fire department), an appropriate employee (of the medical provider, law enforcement agency, or fire department) will take the child into protective custody for seventy-two (72) hours under the Child Maltreatment Act. The person taking the child into protective custody will immediately notify DCFS.
DCFS will contact the Office of Chief Counsel (OCC) to request a petition be filed with the court for an order of emergency custody. DCFS will also utilize the Arkansas Attorney General's Missing Children Services Program along with any other national and state resources to determine whether the child is a missing child before placing the infant in an appropriate legal risk adoptive placement.
