2016 Colorado Revised Statutes
Title 19 - Children's Code
Article 3 - Dependency and Neglect
Part 3 - Child Abuse or Neglect
§ 19-3-304.5. Emergency possession of certain abandoned children

(1) If a parent voluntarily delivers a child to a firefighter, as defined in section 18-3-201 (1.5), C.R.S., or a hospital staff member who engages in the admission, care, or treatment of patients, when the firefighter is at a fire station or the hospital staff member is at a hospital, the firefighter or hospital staff member shall, without a court order, take temporary physical custody of the child if:

(a) The child is seventy-two hours old or younger; and

(b) The parent did not express an intent to return for the child.

(2) If a firefighter or hospital staff member takes temporary physical custody of a child pursuant to subsection (1) of this section, the firefighter or hospital staff member shall:

(a) Perform any act necessary, in accordance with generally accepted standards of professional practice, to protect, preserve, or aid the physical health or safety of the child during the temporary physical custody; and

(b) Notify a law enforcement officer and the county department of the abandonment within twenty-four hours after the abandonment.

(3) A firefighter or hospital staff member shall incur no civil or criminal liability for any good faith acts or omissions performed pursuant to this section.

(4) Upon receipt of notice pursuant to subsection (2) of this section, a law enforcement officer shall take the abandoned child into temporary custody pursuant to section 19-3-401.

(4.5) Any document prepared by a firefighter, member of a hospital staff, or law enforcement officer pursuant to this section shall be a dependency and neglect record and shall be subject to the confidentiality provisions of section 19-1-307.

(5) Each county department of social services shall maintain and update on a monthly basis a report of the number of children who have been abandoned pursuant to this section. Each county department of social services shall submit such information to the state department of human services.

(6) The state department of human services shall submit an annual report to the general assembly, beginning January 1, 2001, that compiles the monthly reports, required pursuant to subsection (5) of this section, of the number of children abandoned pursuant to this section.

(7) The general assembly hereby finds, determines, and declares that a county department of social services shall place an abandoned child with a potential adoptive parent as soon as possible. The general assembly further declares that, as soon as lawfully possible, a county department of social services shall proceed with a motion to terminate the parental rights of a parent who abandons a child.

(8) A parent who utilizes the provisions of this section shall not, for that reason alone, be found to be responsible in a confirmed report of abuse or neglect.