5. What other information should the ESP share?

Reasonable efforts should be made to inform the parent(s) that by surrendering the newborn the newborn will be placed for adoption and that they will have 28 days to petition the court to regain custody of the surrendered child. A reasonable attempt should be made to:

• Reassure that shared information will be kept confidential.
• Encourage the parent(s) to identify him/herself.
• Encourage the parent(s) to share relevant family/medical history (Voluntary Medical Background for a Surrendered Newborn DHS-4819 has been developed to assist with this).
• Inform the parent(s) that they can receive counseling or medical attention.
• Inform the parent(s) that a reasonable effort must be made to identify the non-surrendering parent.
• Inform the parent(s) that the child placement agency can provide confidential services.
• Inform the parent(s) that they may voluntarily sign a release for the newborn to be used in the termination hearing (Voluntary Release for Adoption of a Surrendered Newborn by Parent DHS-4820).