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92_SB0811
LRB9207995LBgc
1 An Act concerning abandoned children.
2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
4 Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
5 Safe Place for Newborns Act.
6 Section 5. Definitions. As used in this Act:
7 "Department" means the Department of Children and Family
8 Services.
9 "Fire station" means a fire station operated by the fire
10 department of a municipality or a fire protection district.
11 "Fire station employee" means a firefighter, paramedic,
12 or civilian employee of a fire department employed at a fire
13 station.
14 "Hospital" means a hospital licensed under the Hospital
15 Licensing Act or the University of Illinois Hospital Act.
16 Section 10. Abandoned children; hospital.
17 (a) A hospital must accept a newborn left with a
18 hospital employee on the hospital's premises, provided that:
19 (1) the newborn appears to be less than one month
20 old; and
21 (2) the newborn is left in an apparently unharmed
22 condition.
23 (b) The hospital employee must not inquire as to the
24 identity of the mother or the person leaving the newborn and
25 must not call the police, provided the newborn is apparently
26 unharmed when presented to the hospital. The hospital
27 employee may ask the person leaving the newborn about the
28 medical history of the mother or the newborn, but the person
29 leaving the newborn is not required to provide any
30 information. The hospital may provide the person leaving the
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1 newborn with information about how to contact relevant social
2 service agencies.
3 Section 15. Abandoned children; fire station.
4 (a) A fire station employee must accept a newborn left
5 with the fire station employee on the fire station's
6 premises, provided that:
7 (1) the newborn appears to be less than one month
8 old; and
9 (2) the newborn is left in an apparently unharmed
10 condition.
11 (b) The fire station employee must not inquire as to the
12 identity of the mother or the person leaving the newborn and
13 must not call the police, provided the newborn is apparently
14 unharmed when presented at the fire station. The fire
15 station employee may ask the the person leaving the newborn
16 about the medical history of the mother or the newborn, but
17 the person leaving the newborn is not required to provide any
18 information. The fire station may provide the person leaving
19 the newborn with information about how to contact relevant
20 social service agencies.
21 (c) As soon as reasonably practicable after the person
22 leaving the newborn leaves the fire station, a fire station
23 employee must transport the newborn to a hospital.
24 Section 20. Reporting. Within 24 hours of receiving a
25 newborn under this Act, the hospital must inform the local
26 welfare agency or the Department that a newborn has been left
27 at the hospital. The hospital must not inform the Department
28 or the local welfare agency before the person leaving the
29 newborn leaves the hospital. The hospital is not required to
30 wait to inform the local welfare agency or the Department in
31 cases where a newborn who has been abandoned under Section 15
32 of this Act is left at the hospital by a fire station
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1 employee.
2 Section 25. Immunity.
3 (a) A hospital with responsibility for performing duties
4 under this Act, and an employee, physician, or other medical
5 professional working at the hospital, are immune from any
6 criminal or civil liability that might otherwise result from
7 the performance of those duties, if the hospital and
8 employee, physician, or other medical professional act in
9 good faith.
10 (b) A municipality or a fire protection district and a
11 fire station employee who performs duties under this Act are
12 immune from any criminal or civil liability that might
13 otherwise result from the performance of those duties, if the
14 municipality or district and fire station employee act in
15 good faith.
16 Section 30. Reunification; search for relatives. The
17 Department and any social service agency or local welfare
18 agency taking custody of a child after discharge from a
19 hospital that accepted the child under the provisions of this
20 Act is not required to attempt to reunify the child with the
21 child's parents, to search for relatives of the child as a
22 placement or permanency option, or to implement other
23 placement requirements that give a preference to the
24 relatives of the child, if the Department or agency does not
25 have information as to the identity of the child, the child's
26 mother, or the child's father.
27 Section 35. Status of child. A newborn left at a
28 hospital or fire station under this Act is considered an
29 abandoned child.
30 Section 40. Prosecution. A person may leave a newborn
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1 with a hospital employee at a hospital or with a fire station
2 employee at a fire station in this State without being
3 subjected to prosecution for that act, provided that:
4 (1) the newborn, when left, was less than one month
5 old;
6 (2) the newborn was left in an unharmed condition;
7 and
8 (3) if the person leaving the newborn was not the
9 newborn's mother, the person had the mother's consent to
10 leave the newborn.
11 Section 90. The State Mandates Act is amended by adding
12 Section 8.25 as follows:
13 (30 ILCS 805/8.25 new)
14 Sec. 8.25. Exempt mandate. Notwithstanding Sections 6
15 and 8 of this Act, no reimbursement by the State is required
16 for the implementation of any mandate created by this
17 amendatory Act of the 92nd General Assembly.