Safe Place for Newborns

Give your newborn to a staff member and explain that you are leaving your newborn under the Safe Place for Newborns law. They will make sure that your newborn is not harmed in any way and you will then be free to go.

They may ask you for your newborn’s medical history, including birth family medical history. You are not required to but you can give this information to them and still maintain anonymity. Providing the newborn’s medical history will help the newborn’s future family provide for medical care.

Your confidentiality is protected. It takes a great deal of courage to seek help. Staff will not share any information about you, but may ask the medical history of you, your newborn and your newborn’s birth family.

The Safe Place for Newborns law requires county social service agencies to place infants in foster care to ensure safety. If neither the agency nor hospital has information about your infant’s identity, including who the parents are, the agency will place the newborn for adoption, without attempting to locate parents or other relatives. The agency will select families who have been licensed for child foster care and approved for adoption, based on the newborns’ best interests.

If a court has not yet issued a Termination of Parental Rights for your child, the responsible social service agency will open a child maltreatment investigation. Your decision to give up your newborn using Safe Place for Newborns will not be used against you. The responsible social service agency will verify your identity as the biological mother, assess safety issues your infant may face in your care, and assess the need for child protective services. The local social services agency may not determine that maltreatment has occurred based solely on your decision to use the Safe Place for Newborns law.

You can work with an adoption agency or your local social services agency to place your newborn for adoption. You can decide whether you want to have an open adoption (where you maintain some contact with the adoptive parents and your child after the adoption) or a closed adoption (where you have no contact). Adoption resources are listed further down this webpage.

You can also choose to parent your child. Parenting resources are available further down this webpage, including financial assistance programs, parenting education, food and nutrition, and early childhood education and development.

The Safe Place for Newborns law does not apply if mothers give birth in a hospital, as a hospital delivery creates a vital record, and anonymity would no longer be possible.

If newborns are of American Indian descent, agencies are directed to contact the Minnesota Department of Human Services at 651-431-4661 or DHS.ICWA.MIFPA@state.mn.us.