BISMARCK – April has been designated nationally as Baby Safe Haven Awareness Month, a time to recognize safe alternatives to infant abandonment by promoting Safe Haven laws.

North Dakota’s Baby Safe Haven law allows a parent or other adult who is acting with a parent’s consent to safely surrender a baby under one year of age without facing questions or prosecution. The law states that infants must be unharmed and given to an on-duty staff member at an approved safe haven location.

The goal is to keep babies safe and prevent them from being neglected and abandoned in unsafe situations. North Dakota is the only state that allows parents to safely surrender older infants up to one year of age.

North Dakota passed a Baby Safe Haven law in 2000. State lawmakers revised the law in 2019 to add other approved safe haven sites in addition to hospitals. Approved Baby Safe Haven sites in North Dakota include hospitals, local public health units, human service zone offices, law enforcement centers, Health and Human Service regional human service centers, long-term care skilled nursing facilities, children’s advocacy centers and 911 emergency medical services response units.

Parents who change their minds after leaving their baby at a Safe Haven site do have options and should contact the human service zone office in their area.