Safe Haven

Requirements for Safe Haven Facilities

Hospitals and health care facilities are encouraged to prominently display the Safe Haven logo.
Hospitals or health care facilities:

May:
Ask for, but cannot require:
               -The name of the parent or parents
               -Medical history of the infant
               -Medical history of the infant's parents
Perform reasonable acts to protect the physical health and safety of the infant with immunity from criminal or civil liability or omissions made in good faith.
Testify at any court hearing held concerning the infant.

Must:
Notify the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) as soon as possible by calling 1-800-362-2178 that physical custody of an infant has been taken under the Safe Haven Act. DHS will make the necessary court and legal contacts and assume care, control and custody of the child.
Submit the certificate of birth report as required in Iowa Code section 144.14.
Keep confidential any information received or recorded in connection with a good faith effort to voluntarily release an infant under the Safe Haven Act except as outlined in 2001 Iowa Acts, SF 355. Failure to keep information confidential is a serious misdemeanor.

Requirements for Parents

A parent - or another person authorized by the parent to relinquish physical custody of an infant:

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
               -An intermediate care facility for persons with mental retardation.
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
               -The facility knows an infant has been left there under provisions of the Safe Haven Act.

Cannot:
Be required to provide identifying information.
Be charged with abandonment.

Immunity

2001 Iowa Acts, SF 355 provides immunity from prosecution for abandonment for a parent - or a person acting with the parent's authorization - who leaves an infant at a hospital or health care facility.

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.