A newborn baby boy was safely surrendered under Iowa’s Safe Haven law, officials said.
The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that the baby boy, who was born on May 25, is safe in state custody. He will stay with a foster family until a permanent adoptive home is secured, officials said.
The department will not immediately release any additional details about where the child was born or where he was surrendered.
The infant is the second surrendered under the state’s Safe Haven law in 2026 and the 81st since the law was passed more than 20 years ago, the Des Moines Register reported. The first baby surrendered in Iowa this year is a baby girl who was born on March 6 and surrendered on March 18.
RELATED: Baby Girl Surrendered in Iowa Under State’s Safe Haven Law
Iowa’s Safe Haven law allows parents to safely surrender infants up to 90 days old to hospitals, police stations, fire stations, and Safe Haven Baby Boxes.
The state updated its law to allow baby boxes in 2023. Baby boxes were created to deter parents from abandoning their newborns, potentially leaving them to die. Baby boxes are temperature-controlled incubators often built into exterior walls of fire stations, police stations, and hospitals, and can be accessed from inside. At-risk mothers can safely and legally place their newborns inside. Then, the outside door locks, and mothers have time to get away before an alarm goes off, alerting first responders or hospital staff inside.
The baby is then quickly removed and sent to a hospital for a wellness check. From there, the baby is usually placed into state custody and often quickly adopted.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
