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. 6, June, 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.