House Bill 473 - Safe Surrender of Infants

• Creates new Article 5A in Chapter 7B establishing safe surrender procedures allowing parents to voluntarily surrender infants under 7 days old without criminal prosecution to designated persons including health care providers, first responders, and social services workers.

• Grants social services directors immediate custody of safely surrendered infants without court order and requires notice by publication once weekly for three weeks in newspapers of the county where surrender occurred and any county where either parent may reside.

• Establishes 60-day timeline for initiating termination of parental rights if neither parent seeks custody or executes adoption relinquishment, with exceptions allowing surrendering parents to regain custody by requesting return from social services.

• Provides legal immunity from civil and criminal prosecution to parents surrendering infants in good faith and to individuals receiving surrendered infants, with exceptions for gross negligence or intentional wrongdoing.

• Mandates schools provide students in grades 9-12 annual information about safe surrender procedures as alternative to infant abandonment.

• Effective October 1, 2021.