Penal Law § 260.00 · Article 260. Offenses Relating to Children, Disabled Persons and Vulnerable Elderly Persons
Abandonment of a child
Text — Law content up to date as of October 23, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
§ 260.00 Abandonment of a child.
1. A person is guilty of abandonment of a child when, being a parent, guardian or other person legally charged with the care or custody of a child less than fourteen years old, he or she deserts such child in any place with intent to wholly abandon such child.
2. A person is not guilty of the provisions of this section when he or she engages in the conduct described in subdivision one of this section: (a) with the intent that the child be safe from physical injury and cared for in an appropriate manner; (b) the child is left with an appropriate person, or in a suitable location and the person who leaves the child promptly notifies an appropriate person of the child's location; and (c) the child is not more than thirty days old.
Abandonment of a child is a class E felony.
Source of truth
- Edition
- Law content up to date as of October 23, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
- Official file
- https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/PEN260.00
- Text hash
- sha256 f912cd70a11c1d0522b27dc2b56e874c02af47c9027ce78b723dcdada3aeb578
- Composed by
- gen_ny_statutes.py 2026-11-10: the Senate's Open Legislation law tree (GET /api/3/laws/<ID>?full=true) read in document order; the Senate's PDF of the whole law (GET /pdf/laws/<ID>?full=true), read with PDFium, prints the same words in the same order
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.