P.R. Laws tit. 8, § 1133
Any State or municipal police officer; social worker, or technician especially designated by the Department, school principal, teacher, school social worker, behavioral health professional, physician, official of the Commonwealth Emergency Management Agency, and physical or mental health professional who has a minor under treatment shall have emergency custody without the consent of the father, mother, or person responsible for such minor whenever he/she has knowledge or suspects that there is imminent risk to the safety, health, and physical, mental, or emotional integrity of the minor, and when one or more of the following circumstances occurs:
(a) The father, mother, or person responsible for the minor is not available, despite efforts to locate him/her, or does not consent to have the minor removed.
(b) If notifying the father, mother, or person responsible for the minor would increase the imminent risk of serious harm to said minor or to another person.
(c) The nature of the risk is such that there is no time to petition the court for custody.
The person in charge of a hospital or similar medical institution shall assume emergency custody of a minor whenever he/she has knowledge or suspects that the minor has been a victim of abuse, institutional abuse, neglect, and/or institutional neglect; whenever he/she deems that the facts justify doing so, even though additional medical treatment is not required; and even if the father, mother, or person responsible for the child demands that the latter be returned to him/her.
Any person who assumes emergency custody of a minor shall immediately report this fact to the Abuse Hotline of the Department, as provided in this chapter. The Department shall take the necessary protective measures for the minor and address the need for placement. Emergency custody shall not be assumed by any prison, juvenile institution, or any other place for the detention of juvenile delinquents or offenders.
Emergency custody as referred to in this section may not exceed seventy-two (72) hours, except in those cases in which court authorization has been requested and obtained through the procedures set forth in this chapter, or when it has not been possible to obtain said authorization because the court is in recess.
History —Dec. 16, 2011, No. 246, § 23, eff. 90 days after Dec. 16, 2011.