Do you know what Georgia’s ‘Safe Haven’ law is?

ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - Do you know what Georgia’s “Safe Haven” law is?

The law is designed to protect newborns and give criminal immunity to a mother who leaves a baby with a staff member at a hospital, fire station or police station.

“Since April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, this is an appropriate time to remind the community about this law,” said Dr. Dianna Grant, Phoebe Putney Health System chief medical officer.

Phoebe officials said all of its hospitals are safe places for newborns under the Safe Haven law. The hospital system has a policy to handle surrendered newborns, according to Phoebe.

“This is a very rare occurrence anywhere, but we are prepared to safely take custody and care of a newborn and offer support to a mother if a child is properly surrendered to us,” Grant said. “At Phoebe, protecting babies is vital to our vision ‘to make every life we touch better,’ and it is certainly part of our Safety First commitment.”

The law states only a newborn’s mother can surrender a child and only if the child is no more than 30 days old.

According to the law, any mother surrendering a child would be requested to submit her name and address, as well as the baby’s medical history and other pertinent information, but she would not be forced to do so.

“By no means do we want to encourage parents to abandon their children, but we know sometimes conditions exist in which a mother cannot properly care for a new baby. The state instituted this law as kind of a last level of protection to ensure babies aren’t neglected, abused or abandoned,” Grant said.

Phoebe officials said the Department of Human Services will be notified if a newborn is surrendered to a Phoebe campus. After the baby has undergone medical discharge DHS is to take full custody of the child.