United States S 604: Safe Home Act of 2025

Bill Text

II
119TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION S. 604
To amend the adoption opportunities program to define unregulated custody
transfers of children and to improve awareness and prevention of such
transfers, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY 13, 2025
Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself and Mr. CRAMER) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Edu-
cation, Labor, and Pensions
A BILL
To amend the adoption opportunities program to define un-
regulated custody transfers of children and to improve
awareness and prevention of such transfers, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe Home Act of 4
2025’’. 5
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•S 604 IS
SEC. 2 UNREGULATED CUSTODY TRANSFERS. 1
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title II of the Child Abuse Pre-2
vention and Treatment and Adoption Reform Act of 1978 3
(42 U.S.C. 5111 et seq.) is amended— 4
(1) by redesignating section 205 (42 U.S.C. 5
5115) as section 206; and 6
(2) by inserting after section 204 the following: 7
‘‘SEC. 205. SENSE OF CONGRESS, TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, 8
AND REPORT ON UNREGULATED CUSTODY 9
TRANSFERS. 10
‘‘(a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-11
gress that— 12
‘‘(1) there are challenges associated with some 13
adoptions (including the child’s mental health needs 14
and the difficulties many families face in accessing 15
support services) and some families may seek out an 16
unregulated transfer of physical custody of an adop-17
tive child without any formal supervision by child 18
welfare agencies or courts; 19
‘‘(2) some adopted children experience trauma, 20
and the disruption and placement in another home 21
due to such a transfer may contribute to additional 22
trauma and instability for such children; 23
‘‘(3) unregulated custody transfers may not in-24
clude certain safety measures that are required as 25
part of formal adoption proceedings, such as re-26
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•S 604 IS
quired child welfare or criminal background checks 1
or clearances; 2
‘‘(4) child welfare agencies and courts may be 3
unaware of the placement of children through un-4
regulated custody transfers and, as a result, may not 5
conduct assessments on children’s safety and well- 6
being in such subsequent placements; 7
‘‘(5) the lack of such assessments may result in 8
the placement of children in homes in which the chil-9
dren may be exposed to unsafe environments; 10
‘‘(6) the caregivers with whom a child is placed 11
through an unregulated custody transfer may have 12
no legal responsibility with respect to such child and 13
may not have complete records, including the child’s 14
birth, medical, or other records, with respect to such 15
child; 16
‘‘(7) a child adopted through intercountry adop-17
tion may be at risk of not acquiring United States 18
citizenship if an unregulated custody transfer occurs 19
before the adoptive parents complete all necessary 20
steps to finalize the adoption of such child; and 21
‘‘(8) unregulated custody transfers pose signifi-22
cant challenges for children who experience such 23
transfers. 24
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‘‘(b) DEFINITION.—For the purpose of this section, 1
the term ‘unregulated custody transfer’— 2
‘‘(1) means the abandonment of a child, by the 3
child’s parent or legal guardian, or a person or enti-4
ty acting on behalf, and with the consent, of such 5
parent or guardian— 6
‘‘(A) by placing the child with a person 7
who is not— 8
‘‘(i) the child’s parent, stepparent, 9
grandparent, adult sibling, legal guardian, 10
or other adult relative; 11
‘‘(ii) a friend of the family who is an 12
adult and with whom the child is familiar; 13
or 14
‘‘(iii) a member of the federally recog-15
nized Indian Tribe of which the child is 16
also a member or eligible to be a member; 17
‘‘(B) with the intent of severing the rela-18
tionship between the child and the parent or 19
guardian of such child; and 20
‘‘(C) without— 21
‘‘(i) reasonably ensuring the safety of 22
the child and permanency of the placement 23
of the child, including by conducting an of-24
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•S 604 IS
ficial home study, background check, and 1
supervision; and 2
‘‘(ii) transferring the legal rights and 3
responsibilities of parenthood or guardian-4
ship under applicable Federal and State 5
law to a person described in clause (i), (ii), 6
o