During “Safe Haven Awareness Month,” Governor Murphy signed a law expanding access to life-saving option for safe surrenders of infants.

TRENTON, N.J. – As ‘Safe Haven Awareness Month’ draws to an end, the Department of Children and Families (DCF) is reporting four additional unrelated newborns have been brought to New Jersey Safe Haven sites in recent months. These surrenders — occurring in April, May, and August — bring the total number of surrenders in 2023 up to eight — a number not seen since 2006, according to DCF records. 

“Usually, we receive three or four Safe Haven surrenders a year,” DCF Commissioner Christine Norbut Beyer said. “To have eight already this year shows that public awareness of the Safe Haven law has likely increased. Teaching Safe Haven in schools, designating September as ‘Safe Haven Awareness Month,’ and our department’s social and digital media campaigns are all helping to get the message out about this life-saving program.”

First enacted in 2000, New Jersey’s Safe Haven Law allows infants up to 30 days old, free of abuse or neglect, to be anonymously surrendered to staff at hospitals, police or fire stations, and ambulance or rescue squads that are staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

Once cleared by a medical professional, surrendered infants are placed into an adoptive home through the DCF Division of Child Protection and Permanency.

“Preparing to give birth can be a scary time for anyone, especially for individuals in unsafe homes or relationship situations, or who may be feeling alone, unready, or unsupported,” said Laura Jamet, Assistant Commissioner of DCF’s Division of Child Protection and Permanency. “Surrendering a newborn is a deeply personal and difficult decision, and in New Jersey it can be done with no shame, no blame and no names. No questions asked.”

Earlier this month, Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation to expand the Safe Haven Infant Protection Act to clarify that people who deliver at a licensed general hospital can choose to surrender their infant under Safe Haven and recover in the hospital, while maintaining anonymity.

The new legislation also expands civil and criminal immunity to all hospital employees – not just those working in the emergency department – so that any adult employee of a licensed general hospital can now accept a surrendered infant. Police officers, firefighters, and ambulance/first aid/rescue squad members acting in good faith to execute their responsibility under the Safe Haven Infant Protection Act will also continue to have civil and criminal immunity.

The signing of the expanded bill coincided with the start of Safe Haven Awareness Month, acknowledged every year in September with enhanced public outreach.

There have been 90 Safe Haven surrenders in New Jersey since the law was signed in 2000. Due to confidentiality statutes and the promise of anonymity for the parents, the state will not share publicly the sexes of the infants or the exact dates and locations of the surrenders. 

For more information, visit www.njsafehaven.org or call the Safe Haven Hotline at 1-877-839-2339.