Family & Safety

If you want, you can fill out forms to give healthcare workers medical information about the baby. When you bring your baby to a safe haven, these forms will be offered to you. You may fill them out there, or you may take them with you and return them by mail. You can also get the forms later and still mail them back. You can also download the medical forms from the Illinois adoption website called the State Central Registry. All information will be kept confidential. You do not have to give your name, and you can still make sure your baby grows up with a medical history.

You can also call the Save Abandoned Babies Foundation at (312) 440-0229 from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M to give confidential information about the baby. 

DCFS will search the Putative Fathers' Registry to find the father after a newborn baby has been given up. DCFS will notify any potential father discovered in the search. 

Illinois law does not place a time limit for finding the missing father, but the law does say that DCFS must search the Putative Father Registry at least 30 days after the baby’s estimated date of birth. The search may also be done earlier. If a potential putative father is identified, he will be provided with notice of the relinquishment and information about the termination of parental rights.

You have about 60 days to reclaim your baby if you left it at a safe place. DCFS will do an investigation, and you will have to undergo counseling.

After 60 days, DCFS will file a petition asking the court to terminate your parental responsibilities. You may ask the court to give your parental responsibilities back at a hearing. Your parental responsibilities are terminated when the court enters the adoption order. There is a presumption that by relinquishing your newborn at a safe haven, the infant's parents consent to the termination of their parental rights to that infant.