Michigan’s Safe Delivery law allows a parent to surrender a newborn safely, legally, and confidentially.
Adoption Partners of Michigan has staff throughout the state, and we specialize in both open adoption and Safe Delivery adoption.
Surrendering your newborn is safe, legal and confidential. You can surrender your newborn, who is no more than three days old, to a uniformed employee who is inside and on duty at any, Hospital, Fire Department, Police Station, or by Calling 9-1-1.
An emergency service provider (ESP) is a uniformed or otherwise identified employee or contractor of a fire department, hospital or police station that is inside the premises and on duty. An ESP also includes a paramedic or emergency medical technician when responding to a 9-1-1 call. The parent(s) does not need to share any information with the ESP. The ESP will immediately accept the newborn, taking the newborn into temporary protective custody, and will transport the newborn to the hospital.
Hospital Personnel:
Surrendered newborns must receive a physician’s examination at the hospital. Healthy, unharmed newborns will be referred immediately to an adoption agency.
Police Personnel:
After taking the newborn into temporary protective custody, transfer of the newborn to a hospital must be arranged. Police should accompany the newborn to the hospital.
Fire Department Personnel:
After taking temporary protective custody of the newborn, transfer of the newborn to a hospital must be arranged. Fire department personnel should accompany the newborn to the hospital.
Emergency Medical Technicians/Paramedics:
Emergency medical technicians and paramedics can accept a surrendered newborn under the Safe Delivery program when responding to a 911 call. After taking temporary protective custody of the newborn, the paramedic or emergency medical technician must transport the newborn to a hospital.
For questions, please call the 24/7 Safe Delivery Hotline at 1-866-733-7733
After the surrender and an examination at a hospital, upon medical clearance, temporary protective custody will be given to a private adoption agency for placement with a pre-approved adoptive family. Adoption agencies are responsible for accepting surrendered newborns and identifying loving families to adopt them.
Adoption Partners of Michigan takes this responsibility seriously. We will place a surrendered newborn in an already-approved adoptive home with parents who intend to permanently care for and adopt the child.
An adoption specialist will respond immediately to assist the hospital with the Safe Delivery procedure and provide emotional support to the birth mother if she wants it. We are available 24/7.
An adoption specialist will gather the available information on the baby and then carefully choose an adoptive family that is already approved and prepared to take a baby with these characteristics.
The adoption specialist will introduce the adoptive family to the hospital staff and coordinate details with the hospital social worker.
The agency will complete the legal paperwork and coordinate the baby’s discharge from hospital into the care of the adoptive family.
Usually, the mother is the surrendering parent, so then the parental rights of the father must also be addressed. If he is known, he will be served notice of the hearing and his parental rights will be terminated when he does not appear at the hearing. If he is not known, the agency will publish a non-identifying notice of the surrender in the county where the newborn was surrendered. The agency will make diligent efforts to locate him and will submit those efforts to the court at the time of the hearing.
The parents have 28 days after surrendering the newborn to petition the court to regain custody (the non-surrendering parent has 28 days from being noticed of the surrender). After the 28 days end, there will be a hearing to terminate parental rights. There will be a public notice of this hearing, however, the notice will be anonymous and will not contain the parents’ name or any identifying information, even if known. The parents do not need to attend this hearing.
The adoptive family will then file a petition for adoption of the baby and the agency will guide them through this process. After several months of monitoring to ensure that the baby is thriving in the adoptive home, the adoption will be finalized.
Michagan’s Safe Delivery is a law that allows a parent or parents to safely and legally surrender their newborn, no more than three days old. A newborn may be given to a uniformed employee who is inside and on duty at any hospital, fire department, police station, or to an emergency medical technician or paramedic by calling 9-1-1. The newborn will be placed for adoption. This program is safe, legal and confidential. For more information, please visit the Safe Delivery of Newborns Law.
No, but you may be asked some questions about your baby’s health to help give them the best care. Any information you choose to share will be kept confidential. But you may also leave without answering any questions.
The baby will be taken to the hospital right away, to make sure they are healthy. The baby will then be placed with an already-approved adoptive family. This adoptive family is prepared to permanently care for, love, and adopt the baby.
You can surrender your baby without giving your name or any information. But it would help the baby if you gave some basic health and background information. This is also important in helping to find the very best adoptive family for the baby.
The law requires that a reasonable attempt to identify the non-surrendering parent must be made; therefore, the emergency service provider will ask for the identity of the non-surrendering parent at the time of the newborn’s surrender. The law further requires that the adoption agency makes a reasonable effort to identify, locate and provide notice of the surrender of the newborn to the non-surrendering parent. If the name and address of that parent is unknown, the agency will provide notice of the surrender of the newborn by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the newborn was surrendered.
Michigan law requires that medical records have the baby’s name as “Baby Doe” and the birth parents name as “unknown”.
The child will not be returned to the birth parent immediately. Instead, the birth parent is encouraged to contact the adoption agency where the child was placed. A social worker will help them file an action in court to request to regain custody.
No. The surrendering birth parent has 28 days following a surrender until their parental rights are automatically terminated. The non-surrendering parent has 28 days from the time of notice or publication until their parental rights are terminated.
If the physician examining the newborn has reason to suspect that the newborn has experienced abuse and/or neglect the physician must immediately report to the local office of DHS’ Children’s Protective Services and file A Report of Actual or Suspected Child Abuse or Neglect (DHS Form 3200).
The Safe Delivery law is meant to keep babies safe. You can legally surrender your baby confidentially.
By surrendering your newborn under Michigan’s Safe Delivery law, you are releasing your baby to an adoption agency to be placed for adoption with an already-approved adoptive family.
You have 28 days after surrendering your newborn to petition the court to regain custody. The non-surrendering parent also has 28 days from being noticed of the surrender.
