(a) The personnel of a hospital, fire station, or police station, or emergency services personnel may receive a newborn child; provided that the newborn child was born within seventy-two hours of being left at the hospital, fire station, or police station, or with emergency services personnel as determined within a reasonable degree of medical certainty.

Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 587D-3

  • Department: means the department of human services. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587D-1
  • Fire station: means a building for fire equipment and firefighters. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587D-1
  • Firefighter: means a member of a fire department whose principal duties are to prevent and fight fires. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587D-1
  • Health care provider: means an individual licensed, certified, or otherwise authorized or permitted by law to provide health care in the ordinary course of business or practice of a profession. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587D-1
  • Hospital: means a facility licensed as a hospital by the department of health and accredited by The Joint Commission. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587D-1
  • Police officer: means any public servant, whether employed by the State or any county, or by the United States, vested by law with a duty to maintain public order, to make arrests for offenses, or to enforce the criminal laws, whether that duty extends to all offenses or is limited to a specific class of offenses. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587D-1
  • Police station: means a facility where police officers report for assignments, paperwork, and other police business. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587D-1
(b) When a person leaves a newborn child with the personnel of [a] hospital, fire station, or police station, or emergency services personnel, the personnel:

(1) Shall make every reasonable effort to solicit the following information from the person leaving the newborn child:

(A) The name of the newborn child;
(B) The name and address of the parent or person dropping off the newborn child;
(C) The location where the newborn child was born;
(D) Information pertaining to the newborn child’s medical history;
(E) The newborn child’s biological family’s medical history, including major illnesses and diseases; and
(F) Any other information that might reasonably assist the department in determining the best interests of the newborn child, including whether the parents plan on returning to seek custody of the child in the future;

provided that refusal of the person leaving the newborn child to provide such information shall not prevent personnel from accepting the newborn child;

(2) May provide the person leaving the newborn child with information on how to contact relevant social service agencies; and
(3) Shall notify appropriate law enforcement agencies that a newborn child was received, for purposes of matching the child with missing children reports.
(c) If a hospital, fire station, or police station, or emergency services personnel receives a newborn child pursuant to subsection (a), any health care provider, firefighter, police officer, or emergency services personnel receiving the newborn child shall perform any act necessary, in accordance with generally accepted standards of their respective professional practice, to protect, preserve, and aid the physical health and safety of the newborn child during the temporary physical custody.

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