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The 10th infant in 2026 was surrendered this week under South Carolina’s Daniel’s Law, marking the first time the state has reached double digits since 2009, when the earliest verifiable data is available.
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The baby boy weighed 6 pounds, 12 ounces, is 21 inches long, and was born Monday. Parents surrendered the child the next day at McLeod Regional Medical Center in Florence County. The child was placed in a Department of Social Services foster home.
A hearing to plan the permanent placement of the child is scheduled for Nov. 10.
The child was the 10th infant surrendered in 2026.
“The parents that make the decision to safely surrender an infant under Daniel’s law, they should be celebrated,” said Connelly-Anne Ragley, the chief external affairs officer for the Department of Social Services.
Under Daniel’s Law, parents are allowed to safely surrender an infant up to 60 days old at a hospital or hospital outpatient facility, law enforcement agency, fire station, emergency medical services station, or a house of worship when its staffed. This is in lieu of abandoning a baby in a dangerous situation.
DSS has heavily promoted the law as an option for parents, such as developing a series of public service announcements, sending information to pregnancy care centers, working with those in the faith community and having information available at hospitals and OB/GYNs.
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“While I can’t speculate on the exact reasons and the motivations for a mother, there are some tangible things that we’re doing as an agency to get the word out about Daniel’s law,” Ragley said.
Of the 10 infants surrendered this year, three have been in Lexington County, two were in Georgetown County, two were in Anderson County, and one each in Aiken, Florence and Richland counties.
Six of the babies were white, two were Black and two were mixed or multi-race.
When the agency publicizes one surrender, it tends to see another one in soon after, and most recently, the surrender this week was the fourth in three-and-a-half weeks.
“I think a lot of it does get back to word of mouth of letting mothers know that this is an option,” Ragley said.
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