(a) Any peace officer may, without a warrant, take into temporary custody a child who is in a hospital if the release of the child to a prospective adoptive parent or a representative of a licensed adoption agency poses an immediate danger to the child’s health or safety.

(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a) and Section 305, a peace officer shall not, without a warrant, take into temporary custody a child who is in a hospital if all of the following conditions exist:

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(1) The child is a newborn who tested positive for illegal drugs or whose birth mother tested positive for illegal drugs.

(2) The child is the subject of a proposed adoption and a Health Facility Minor Release Report, developed by the department, has been completed by the hospital, including the marking of the boxes applicable to an independent adoption or agency adoption planning, and signed by the placing birth parent or birth parents, as well as either the prospective adoptive parent or parents or an authorized representative of a licensed adoption agency, prior to the discharge of the birth parent or the child from the hospital. The Health Facility Minor Release Report shall include a notice written in at least 14-point pica type, containing substantially all of the following statements:

(A) That the Health Facility Minor Release Report does not constitute consent to adoption of the child by the prospective adoptive parent or parents, or any other person.

(B) That the Health Facility Minor Release Report does not constitute a relinquishment of parental rights for the purposes of adoption.

(C) That the birth parent or parents or any person authorized by the birth parent or parents may reclaim the child at any time from the prospective adoptive parent or parents or any other person to whom the child was released by the hospital, as provided in Section 8700, 8814.5, or 8815 of the Family Code.

(3) The release of the child to a prospective adoptive parent or parents or an authorized representative of a licensed adoption agency does not pose an immediate danger to the child.

(4) An attorney or an adoption agency has provided documentation stating that he or she, or the agency, is representing the prospective adoptive parent or parents for purposes of the adoption. In the case of an independent adoption, as defined in § 8524 of the Family Code, the attorney or adoption agency shall provide documentation stating that the prospective adoptive parent or parents have been informed that the child may be eligible for benefits provided pursuant to the Adoption Assistance Program, as set forth in Chapter 2.1 (commencing with Section 16115) of Part 4 of Division 9, only if, at the time the adoption request is filed, the child has met the requirements to receive federal supplemental security income benefits pursuant to Subchapter XVI (commencing with Section 1381) of Chapter 7 of Title 42 of the United States Code, as determined and documented by the federal Social Security Administration.

(5) The prospective adoptive parent or parents or their representative, or an authorized representative of a licensed adoption agency, provides all of the following to the peace officer:

(A) A fully executed copy of the Health Facility Minor Release Report.

(B) A written form signed by either the prospective adoptive parent or parents or a representative of the licensed adoption agency, which shall include all of the following:

(i) A statement that the child is the subject of a proposed adoption.

(ii) A declaration that the signer or signers will immediately notify the county child welfare agency pursuant to § 11165.9 of the Penal Code if the adoption plan is terminated for any reason, and will not release the child to the birth parent or parents or any designee of the birth parent or parents until the county child welfare agency or local law enforcement agency completes an investigation and determines that release of the child to the birth parent or parents or a designee of the birth parent or parents will not create an immediate risk to the health or safety of the child.

(iii) An agreement to provide a conformed copy of the adoption request or guardianship petition to the county child welfare agency within five business days after filing.

(iv) The names, identifying information, and contact information for the child, for each prospective adoptive parent, and for each birth parent, to the extent that information is known. In the case of an agency adoption where no prospective adoptive parent or parents are identified at the time of the child’s release from the hospital, the licensed adoption agency may provide the information as it pertains to the licensed or certified foster home into which the agency intends to place the child.

(c) (1) In every independent adoption proceeding under this section, the prospective adoptive parent or parents shall file with the court either an adoption request within 10 working days after execution of an adoption placement agreement, or a guardianship petition within 30 calendar days after the child’s discharge from the hospital, whichever is earlier.

(2) If the adoption plan for a child who was released from the hospital pursuant to subdivision (b) is terminated for any reason, the prospective adoptive parent or parents or licensed adoption agency shall immediately notify the county child welfare agency. The prospective adoptive parent or parents or licensed adoption agency may not release the child into the physical custody of the birth parent or parents, or any designee of the birth parent or parents, until the county child welfare agency or local law enforcement agency completes an investigation and determines that release of the child to the birth parent or parents or a designee of the birth parent or parents will not create an immediate risk to the health or safety of the child.

(d) Upon request by a birth parent or parents of the newborn child, the appropriate hospital personnel shall complete a Health Facility Minor Release Report and provide copies of the report to the birth parent or parents, and the person or persons who will receive physical custody of the child upon discharge pursuant to § 1283 of the Health and Safety Code. Hospital personnel shall not refuse to complete a Health Facility Minor Release Report for any reason, even if the child is ineligible for release at that time. This section shall not be construed to require hospital personnel to release a child contrary to the directives of a child welfare agency.

(e) This section is not intended to create a duty that requires law enforcement to investigate the prospective adoptive parent or parents.

(f) This section does not suspend the requirements for voluntary adoptive placement under the federal Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (25 U.S.C. § 1901 et seq.).

(Amended by Stats. 2018, Ch. 833, Sec. 18. (AB 3176) Effective January 1, 2019.)