Child protection: safe surrender.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill's official text does not provide specific details on the new duties imposed on local officials or the exact nature of additional costs that may arise from implementing the expanded safe surrender sites.

Keeping Infants from Danger (KID) Act

This act expands safe surrender sites to accept infants up to one month old and requires local officials to follow new procedures.

What This Bill Does

• Expands the age limit for safe surrender sites to include infants up to 30 days old, not just those under three days.
• Requires personnel at safe surrender sites to take in infants up to 30 days old who are surrendered by parents or guardians and report this to child protective services within two days.
• Ensures that parents or guardians who surrender their infant to a safe site cannot be charged with abandoning the child.

Who It Names or Affects

• Parents and guardians of newborns up to one month old who want to surrender their infants safely.
• Local officials responsible for designating safe surrender sites and handling the procedures related to infant surrenders.
• Hospitals, fire agencies, and county boards that designate safe surrender locations.

Terms To Know

Safe-surrender site

A place where parents or guardians can leave their newborns up to one month old without fear of legal consequences.

State-mandated local program

A program that the state requires counties and other local agencies to follow, which may involve additional costs for these entities.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify how much extra money counties will need to handle the expanded safe surrender sites.
• It is unclear what new duties local officials must perform beyond accepting and reporting surrendered infants.

Official Summary Text

AB 1628, as amended, Michelle Rodriguez.
Child protection: safe surrender.
Existing law defines a safe-surrender site to mean a location designated by the board of supervisors of a county or by a local fire agency, or a location within a public or private hospital that is designated by that hospital, to be responsible for accepting physical custody of a minor child who is 72 hours old or younger from a parent or individual who has lawful custody of that child and who surrenders the child. Existing law requires personnel on duty at a safe-surrender site to accept physical custody of the minor child, and to notify child protective services or a county agency providing child welfare services as soon as possible, but no later than 48 hours after accepting custody of the child.
Under existing law, a parent or other individual with lawful custody of a minor child 72 hours old or younger who voluntarily surrenders physical
custody of the child to personnel on duty at a safe-surrender site cannot be prosecuted for child abandonment.
This bill, the Keeping Infants from Danger (KID) Act, would expand the scope of these provisions to apply to children who are 30 days of age or younger. By imposing new duties on local officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
This bill would also make a conforming change.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted
above.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF