Illinois General Assembly - Illinois Compiled Statutes

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325 ILCS 2/5

(325 ILCS 2/5)

Sec. 5. Public policy.

Illinois recognizes that newborn
infants have been abandoned to the environment or to other
circumstances that may be unsafe to the newborn infant. These
circumstances have caused injury and death to newborn infants and
give rise to potential civil or criminal liability to parents who may be under
severe emotional distress.
It is recognized that establishing an adoption
plan is preferable to relinquishing a child using the procedures outlined in
this Act, but to reduce the
chance of injury to a newborn infant, this Act provides a safer
alternative. This Act is intended to provide a mechanism for a newborn infant to be
relinquished to a safe environment and for the parents of the infant
to remain anonymous if they choose and to avoid civil or criminal liability for
the act of
relinquishing the infant.

A public information campaign on this delicate issue shall be implemented to
encourage parents considering abandonment of their newborn child to relinquish
the child under the procedures outlined in this Act, to choose a traditional
adoption plan, or to parent a child themselves rather than place the newborn
infant in harm's way.

(Source: P.A. 103-501, eff. 1-1-24.)