Bill Text: MI HB5751 | 2017-2018 | 99th Legislature | Engrossed
Bill Title: Children; protection; surrender of newborn to a newborn safety device; allow. Amends secs. 5, 7, 10, 17 & 20, ch. XII of 1939 PA 288 (MCL 712.5 et seq.) & adds sec. 3a. TIE BAR WITH: HB 5750'18
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Vetoed) 2018-12-28 - Vetoed By The Governor 12/27/2018 [HB5751 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2017-HB5751-Engrossed.html
HB-5751, As Passed House, May 16, 2018
SUBSTITUTE FOR
HOUSE BILL NO. 5751
A bill to amend 1939 PA 288, entitled
"Probate code of 1939,"
by amending sections 5, 7, 10, 17, and 20 of chapter XII (MCL
712.5, 712.7, 712.10, 712.17, and 712.20), section 5 as added by
2000 PA 232, sections 7 and 10 as amended by 2006 PA 488, section
17 as amended by 2010 PA 348, and section 20 as amended by 2003 PA
245, and by adding section 3a.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
CHAPTER XII
Sec. 3a. (1) A parent may voluntarily deliver his or her
newborn to a newborn safety device provided by an emergency service
provider. The newborn safety device must meet the requirements
provided in rules promulgated under this section.
(2) Not later than 180 days after the effective date of the
amendatory act that added this section, the department shall
promulgate rules governing newborn safety devices. The rules shall
provide for all of the following:
(a) Sanitation standards.
(b) Procedures to provide emergency care for a newborn
delivered to a newborn safety device.
(c) Manufacturing and manufacturer standards.
(d) Design and function requirements that include the
following:
(i) Take into account installation at a fire department,
hospital, or police station.
(ii) Allow a newborn to be placed anonymously from the outside
of the facility.
(iii) Lock the newborn safety device after a newborn is placed
in it so that a person outside the facility is unable to access the
newborn.
(iv) Provide a controlled environment for the care and
protection of the newborn.
(v) Trigger a 9-1-1 call and provide notification to a
centralized location in the facility within 30 seconds of a newborn
being placed in the newborn safety device.
(e) Operating policies, supervision, and maintenance
requirements for a newborn safety device, including requirements
that only an emergency service provider supervise the newborn
safety device and take custody of a newborn placed in it.
(f) Qualifications required for a person to install a newborn
safety device.
(g) Procedures and forms for registration of a qualified
newborn safety device installer.
(h) Costs for registering and regulating newborn safety
devices and fees to cover those costs.
(i) Creating and posting signs to be placed near or on a
newborn safety device to provide information about using it.
(j) Enforcement of and remedies for violations for failure to
comply with the requirements governing newborn safety devices.
(k) Any other requirement the department considers necessary
to ensure the safety and welfare of a newborn placed in a newborn
safety device.
(l) A publicly accessible list with the location of all
available newborn safety devices.
(m) An accessible form that allows a surrendering parent the
option to input the following and includes notification to the
surrendering parent that this information shall not be published
publicly, but shall be accessible to a child placing agency:
(i) The known date and time of surrender of the newborn.
(ii) The address of the location of surrender of the newborn.
(iii) Name and contact information.
(iv) Family medical information.
(v) Whether or not the information provided may be shared with
the child and prospective adoptive parent.
Sec. 5. (1) An emergency service provider that is not a
hospital and that takes a newborn into temporary protective custody
under section 3 or 3a of this chapter shall transfer the newborn to
a hospital. The hospital shall accept a newborn who an emergency
service provider transfers to the hospital in compliance with this
chapter, taking the newborn into temporary protective custody.
(2) A hospital that takes a newborn into temporary protective
custody under this chapter shall have the newborn examined by a
physician. If a physician who examines the newborn either
determines that there is reason to suspect the newborn has
experienced child abuse or child neglect, other than being
surrendered to an emergency service provider under section 3 of
this chapter or surrendered to a newborn safety device under
section 3a of this chapter, or comes to a reasonable belief that
the child is not a newborn, the physician shall immediately report
to the department as required by section 3 of the child protection
law, 1975 PA 238, MCL 722.623.
(3) If a physician is not required to report to the department
as provided in subsection (2), the hospital shall notify a child
placing agency that the hospital has taken a newborn into temporary
protective custody under this chapter.
Sec. 7. Upon receipt of notice from a hospital under section 5
of this chapter, the child placing agency shall do all of the
following:
(a) Immediately assume the care, control, and temporary
protective custody of the newborn.
(b) If a parent is known and willing, immediately meet with
the parent.
(c) Unless otherwise provided in this subdivision, make a
temporary placement of the newborn with a prospective adoptive
parent who has an approved preplacement assessment. If a petition
for custody is filed under section 10 of this chapter, the child
placing agency may make a temporary placement of the newborn with a
licensed foster parent.
(d) Unless the birth was witnessed by the emergency service
provider, immediately request assistance from law enforcement
officials to investigate and determine, through the missing
children
information clearinghouse, the national center for missing
and
exploited children, National
Center for Missing and Exploited
Children, and any other national and state resources, whether the
newborn is a missing child.
(e) Not later than 48 hours after a transfer of physical
custody to a prospective adoptive parent, petition the court in the
county in which the prospective adoptive parent resides to provide
authority to place the newborn and provide care for the newborn.
The petition shall include all of the following:
(i) The date of the transfer of physical custody.
(ii) The name and address of the emergency service provider to
whom the newborn was surrendered or the name and address of the
location of the newborn safety device to which the newborn was
surrendered.
(iii) Any information, either written or verbal, that was
provided by and to the parent who surrendered the newborn. The
emergency service provider that originally accepted the newborn as
required by section 3 of this chapter shall provide this
information to the child placing agency. This subparagraph does not
apply to a newborn surrendered to a newborn safety device under
section 3a of this chapter if there was no information left with
the newborn.
(f) Within 28 days, make reasonable efforts to identify,
locate, and provide notice of the surrender of the newborn to the
nonsurrendering parent. The child placing agency shall file a
written report with the court that issued the order placing the
child. The report shall state the efforts the child placing agency
made in attempting to identify and locate the nonsurrendering
parent and the results of those efforts. If the identity and
address of the nonsurrendering parent are unknown, the child
placing agency shall provide notice of the surrender of the newborn
by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the county
where the newborn was surrendered.
Sec. 10. (1) If a surrendering parent wants custody of a
newborn who was surrendered under section 3 or 3a of this chapter,
the parent shall, within 28 days after the newborn was surrendered,
file a petition with the court for custody. Not later than 28 days
after notice of surrender of a newborn has been published, an
individual claiming to be the nonsurrendering parent of that
newborn may file a petition with the court for custody. The
surrendering parent or nonsurrendering parent shall file the
petition for custody in 1 of the following counties:
(a) If the parent has located the newborn, the county where
the newborn is located.
(b) If subdivision (a) does not apply and the parent knows the
location of the emergency service provider or newborn safety device
to whom the newborn was surrendered, the county where the emergency
service provider or newborn safety device is located.
(c) If neither subdivision (a) nor (b) applies, the county
where the parent is located.
(2) If the court in which the petition for custody is filed
did not issue the order placing the newborn, the court in which the
petition for custody is filed shall locate and contact the court
that issued the order and shall transfer the proceedings to that
court.
(3) Before holding a custody hearing on a petition filed under
this section and not later than 7 days after a petition for custody
under this section has been filed, the court shall conduct a
hearing to make the determinations of paternity or maternity as
described in section 11.
Sec. 17. (1) A parent who surrenders a newborn under section 3
or 3a of this chapter and who does not file a custody action under
section 10 of this chapter is presumed to have knowingly released
his or her parental rights to the newborn.
(2) If the surrendering parent has not filed a petition for
custody of the newborn within 28 days of the surrender, the child
placing agency with authority to place the newborn shall
immediately file a petition with the court to determine whether the
release shall be accepted and whether the court shall enter an
order terminating the rights of the surrendering parent.
(3) If the nonsurrendering parent has not filed a petition for
custody of the newborn within 28 days of notice of surrender of a
newborn under section 10 of this chapter, the child placing agency
with authority to place the newborn shall immediately file a
petition with the court to determine whether the court shall enter
an order terminating the rights of the nonsurrendering parent.
(4) The court shall schedule a hearing on the petition from
the child placing agency within 14 days of receipt of that
petition. At the hearing, the child placing agency shall present
evidence that demonstrates that the surrendering parent released
the newborn and that demonstrates the efforts made by the child
placing agency to identify, locate, and provide notice to the
nonsurrendering parent.
(5) If the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that
the surrendering parent has knowingly released his or her rights to
the child and that reasonable efforts were made to locate the
nonsurrendering parent and a custody action has not been filed, the
court shall enter an order terminating parental rights of the
surrendering parent and the nonsurrendering parent under this
chapter.
Sec.
20. The department of community health in conjunction
with
the department shall establish a
safe delivery program. The
safe delivery program shall include, but is not limited to, both of
the following:
(a) A toll-free, 24-hour telephone line. The information
provided with this telephone line shall include, but is not limited
to, all of the following:
(i) Information on prenatal care and the delivery of a
newborn.
(ii) Names of health agencies that can assist in obtaining
services and supports that provide for the pregnancy-related health
of the mother and the health of the baby.
(iii) Information on adoption options and the name and
telephone number of a child placing agency that can assist a parent
or expecting parent in obtaining adoption services.
(iv) Information that, in order to safely provide for the
health of the mother and her newborn, the best place for the
delivery of a child is in a hospital, hospital-based birthing
center, or birthing center that is accredited by the commission for
the accreditation of birth centers.
(v) An explanation that, to the extent of the law, prenatal
care and delivery services are routinely confidential within the
health care system, if requested by the mother.
(vi) Information that a hospital will take into protective
custody a newborn that is surrendered as provided for in this
chapter and, if needed, provide emergency medical assistance to the
mother, the newborn, or both.
(vii) Information regarding legal and procedural requirements
related to the voluntary surrender of a child as provided for in
this chapter.
(viii) Information regarding the legal consequences for
endangering a child, including child protective service
investigations and potential criminal penalties.
(ix) Information that surrendering a newborn for adoption as
provided in this chapter is an affirmative defense to charges of
abandonment as provided in section 135 of the Michigan penal code,
1931 PA 328, MCL 750.135.
(x) Information about resources for counseling and assistance
with crisis management.
(b) A pamphlet that provides information to the public
concerning the safe delivery program, including information
regarding
newborn safety devices. The department of
community
health
and the department shall jointly
publish and distribute the
pamphlet. The pamphlet shall prominently display the toll-free
telephone number prescribed by subdivision (a).
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days
after the date it is enacted into law.
Enacting section 2. This amendatory act does not take effect
unless House Bill No. 5750 of the 99th Legislature is enacted into
law.
