SB2913 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB094 19160 DRJ 54692 b

94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2005 and 2006
SB2913

Introduced 1/20/2006, by Sen. Donne E. Trotter

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

325 ILCS 2/10
325 ILCS 2/60

Amends the Abandoned Newborn Infant Protection Act. Provides that "newborn infant" means a child who a licensed physician reasonably believes is 7 days (instead of 72 hours) old or less at the time the child is initially relinquished to a hospital or other authorized facility. Makes conforming changes in the definition of "relinquish" and in a provision concerning a public information program by the Department of Children and Family Services. Effective immediately.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning children.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Abandoned Newborn Infant Protection Act is amended by changing Sections 10 and 60 as follows:

(325 ILCS 2/10)

Sec. 10. Definitions. In this Act:

"Abandon" has the same meaning as in the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act.

"Abused child" has the same meaning as in the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act.

"Child-placing agency" means a licensed public or private agency that receives a child for the purpose of placing or arranging for the placement of the child in a foster family home or other facility for child care, apart from the custody of the child's parents.

"Department" or "DCFS" means the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

"Emergency medical facility" means a freestanding emergency center or trauma center, as defined in the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Systems Act.

"Emergency medical professional" includes licensed physicians, and any emergency medical technician-basic, emergency medical technician-intermediate, emergency medical technician-paramedic, trauma nurse specialist, and pre-hospital RN, as defined in the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Systems Act.

"Fire station" means a fire station within the State that is staffed with at least one full-time emergency medical professional.

"Hospital" has the same meaning as in the Hospital Licensing Act.

"Legal custody" means the relationship created by a court order in the best interest of a newborn infant that imposes on the infant's custodian the responsibility of physical possession of the infant, the duty to protect, train, and discipline the infant, and the duty to provide the infant with food, shelter, education, and medical care, except as these are limited by parental rights and responsibilities.

"Neglected child" has the same meaning as in the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act.

"Newborn infant" means a child who a licensed physician reasonably believes is 7 days 72 hours old or less at the time the child is initially relinquished to a hospital, police station, fire station, or emergency medical facility, and who is not an abused or a neglected child.

"Police station" means a municipal police station or a county sheriff's office.

"Relinquish" means to bring a newborn infant, who a licensed physician reasonably believes is 7 days 72 hours old or less, to a hospital, police station, fire station, or emergency medical facility and to leave the infant with personnel of the facility, if the person leaving the infant does not express an intent to return for the infant or states that he or she will not return for the infant. In the case of a mother who gives birth to an infant in a hospital, the mother's act of leaving that newborn infant at the hospital (i) without expressing an intent to return for the infant or (ii) stating that she will not return for the infant is not a "relinquishment" under this Act.

"Temporary protective custody" means the temporary placement of a newborn infant within a hospital or other medical facility out of the custody of the infant's parent.

(Source: P.A. 92-408, eff. 8-17-01; 92-432, eff. 8-17-01; 93-820, eff. 7-27-04.)

(325 ILCS 2/60)

Sec. 60. Department's duties. The Department must implement a public information program to promote safe placement alternatives for newborn infants. The public information program must inform the public of the following:

(1) The relinquishment alternative provided for in this Act, which results in the adoption of a newborn infant under 7 days 72 hours of age and which provides for the parent's anonymity, if the parent so chooses.

(2) The alternative of adoption through a public or private agency, in which the parent's identity may or may not be known to the agency, but is kept anonymous from the adoptive parents, if the birth parent so desires, and which allows the parent to be actively involved in the child's adoption plan.

The public information program may include, but need not be limited to, the following elements:

(i) Educational and informational materials in print, audio, video, electronic or other media.

(ii) Establishment of a web site.

(iii) Public service announcements and advertisements.

(iv) Establishment of toll-free telephone hotlines to provide information.

(Source: P.A. 92-408, eff. 8-17-01; 92-432, eff. 8-17-01.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.