Every state has its version of a Baby Safe Haven Law. This training course will only go into the specifics of North Dakota Baby Safe Haven Law and what to do if you find yourself in a situation where an infant has been left in your care as an abandoned infant.
There are three factors in a situation of infant abandonment that must be met for North Dakota’s Baby Safe Haven Laws to apply. First, the infant must be under age one-year old. Second, the infant must be unharmed. Third, the infant must be left with an on-duty staff member at an approved location. If these qualifiers are met, neither the birth parent nor the parent’s agent (another person acting with the parent’s consent) is subject to prosecution for abandoning an infant.
The infant must be under age one-year old.
The infant must be unharmed.
The infant must be left with an on-duty staff member at an approved location.
Safe Haven laws are put in place to protect the lives of abandoned infants, as desperate parents may leave their infant in dangerous places and circumstances. Sadly, North Dakota had two cases of abandoned infant death, one in 1998 and one in 1999. North Dakota passed its Baby Safe Haven Law in 2000, only a year after the first law of its kind was passed in Texas.
