NRS449.245. Release of child from hospital; provision of authorization for release and other information to Division of Child and Family Services; disclosure of information; penalty.

      1.  No hospital licensed under the provisions of NRS 449.030 to 449.2428, inclusive, may release from the hospital or otherwise surrender physical custody of any child under 6 months of age, whose living parent or guardian is known to the hospital, to any person other than a parent, guardian or relative by blood or marriage of that child, without a written authorization signed by a living parent, who must be the mother if unwed, or guardian specifying the particular person or agency to whom the child may be released and the permanent address of that person or agency.

      2.  Upon the release or other surrender of physical custody of the child, the hospital shall require from the person to whom the child is released such reasonable proof of identity as the hospital may deem necessary for compliance with the provisions of this section. The hospital shall furnish a true copy of the written authorization to the Division of Child and Family Services of the Department of Health and Human Services before the release or other surrender by it of physical custody of the child. The copy must be furnished to the Division immediately upon receipt by the hospital.

      3.  Any person to whom any such child is released who thereafter surrenders physical custody of that child to any other person or agency shall, upon demand by the Division of Child and Family Services, disclose to the Division the name and permanent address of the person or agency to whom physical custody of the child was delivered.

      4.  Except as otherwise provided in NRS 239.0115, all information received by the Division of Child and Family Services pursuant to the provisions of this section is confidential and must be protected from disclosure in the same manner that information is protected under NRS 432.035.

      5.  Compliance with the provisions of this section is not a substitute for compliance with NRS 127.220 to 127.310, inclusive, governing placements for adoption and permanent free care.

      6.  A violation of any provision of this section is a misdemeanor.

      (Added to NRS by 1957, 251; A 1961, 739; 1963, 962; 1967, 1172; 1973, 1286, 1406; 1981, 721; 1993, 2724; 2007, 2109)