II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 397 

To amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to include an 

act of unregulated custody transfer in the definition of child abuse 

and neglect, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 23, 2021 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself and Mr. BLUNT) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act 

to include an act of unregulated custody transfer in 

the definition of child abuse and neglect, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe Home Act of 

5 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 It is the sense of Congress that: 

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1 (1) Adopted children may be most at risk of ex2 periencing an unregulated custody transfer because 

3 the challenges associated with adoptions, including 

4 the child’s mental health needs and the difficulties 

5 many families face in acquiring support services, 

6 may lead families to seek out unregulated custody 

7 transfers. 

8 (2) Many adopted children experience trauma, 

9 and the disruption and placement in another home 

10 by unregulated custody transfer creates additional 

11 trauma and instability for the child. 

12 (3) Children who experience an unregulated 

13 custody transfer may be placed with families who 

14 have not completed required child welfare or crimi15 nal background checks or clearances. 

16 (4) Social services agencies and courts are often 

17 unaware of the placement of children through un18 regulated custody transfer and therefore do not con19 duct assessments on the child’s safety and well-being 

20 in such placements. 

21 (5) Such lack of placement oversight places a 

22 child at risk for future abuse and increases the like23 lihood that the child may experience— 

24 (A) physical, sexual, or emotional abuse or 

25 neglect; 

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1 (B) contact with unsafe adults or youth; 

2 and 

3 (C) exposure to unsafe or isolated environ4 ments. 

5 (6) The caregivers with whom a child is placed 

6 through unregulated custody transfer often have no 

7 legal responsibility with respect to such child, plac8 ing the child at risk for additional unregulated cus9 tody transfers. 

10 (7) Such caregivers also may not have complete 

11 records, including birth, medical, or immigration 

12 records. 

13 (8) A child adopted through intercountry adop14 tion may be at risk of not acquiring United States 

15 citizenship if an unregulated custody transfer occurs 

16 before the adoptive parents complete all necessary 

17 steps to finalize the adoption of such child. 

18 (9) Engaging in, or offering to engage in, un19 regulated custody transfer is a form of child abuse. 

20 SEC. 3. TREATMENT OF UNREGULATED CUSTODY TRANS21 FER. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3 of the Child Abuse Pre23 vention and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5101 note) is 

24 amended— 

25 (1) in paragraph (2)— 

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1 (A) by striking ‘‘or an act or failure’’ and 

2 inserting ‘‘an act or failure’’; and 

3 (B) by inserting ‘‘, or an unregulated cus4 tody transfer’’ after ‘‘serious harm’’; 

5 (2) in paragraph (7), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 

6 inserting a semicolon; 

7 (3) in paragraph (8), by striking the period at 

8 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

9 (4) by adding at the end the following new 

10 paragraph: 

11 ‘‘(9) the term ‘unregulated custody transfer’ 

12 means the abandonment of a child by the child’s 

13 parent, legal guardian, or a person or entity acting 

14 on behalf, and with the consent, of such parent or 

15 guardian— 

16 ‘‘(A) by placing a child with a person who 

17 is not— 

18 ‘‘(i) the child’s parent, step-parent, 

19 grandparent, adult sibling, adult uncle or 

20 aunt, legal guardian, or other adult rel21 ative; 

22 ‘‘(ii) a friend of the family who is an 

23 adult and with whom the child is familiar; 

24 or 

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1 ‘‘(iii) a member of the federally recog2 nized Indian tribe of which the child is also 

3 a member; 

4 ‘‘(B) with the intent of severing the rela5 tionship between the child and the parent or 

6 guardian of such child; and 

7 ‘‘(C) without— 

8 ‘‘(i) reasonably ensuring the safety of 

9 the child and permanency of the placement 

10 of the child, including by conducting an of11 ficial home study, background check, and 

12 supervision; and 

13 ‘‘(ii) transferring the legal rights and 

14 responsibilities of parenthood or guardian15 ship under applicable Federal and State 

16 law to a person described in subparagraph 

17 (A).’’. 

18 (b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—Paragraph (5) of 

19 section 3 of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment 

20 Act (42 U.S.C. 5101 note) is amended by striking ‘‘450b’’ 

21 and inserting ‘‘5304’’. 

22 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

23 this section shall take effect on the date that is 1 year 

24 after the date of the enactment of this section. 

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1 SEC. 4. REPORT AND GUIDANCE ON UNREGULATED CUS2 TODY TRANSFERS. 

3 Section 204 of the Child Abuse Prevention and 

4 Treatment and Adoption Reform Act of 1978 (42 U.S.C. 

5 5114) is amended to read as follows: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 204. REPORT AND GUIDANCE ON UNREGULATED CUS7 TODY TRANSFERS. 

8 ‘‘(a) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

10 after the date of the enactment of this section, the 

11 Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of 

12 State, shall provide to the Committee on Education 

13 and Labor of the House of Representatives, the 

14 Committee on Ways and Means of the House of 

15 Representatives, and the Committee on Health, Edu16 cation, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate a report 

17 on unregulated custody transfers of children, includ18 ing of adopted children. 

19 ‘‘(2) ELEMENTS.—The report required under 

20 paragraph (1) shall include— 

21 ‘‘(A) the causes, methods, and characteris22 tics of unregulated custody transfers, including 

23 the use of social media and the internet; 

24 ‘‘(B) the effects of unregulated custody 

25 transfer on children, including the lack of as26 sessment of a child’s safety and well-being by 

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1 social services agencies and courts due to such 

2 unregulated custody transfer; 

3 ‘‘(C) the prevalence of unregulated custody 

4 transfers within each State and across all 

5 States; and 

6 ‘‘(D) recommended policies for preventing, 

7 identifying, and responding to unregulated cus8 tody transfers, including of adopted children, 

9 that include— 

10 ‘‘(i) amendments to Federal and State 

11 law to address unregulated custody trans12 fers; 

13 ‘‘(ii) amendments to child protection 

14 practices to address unregulated custody 

15 transfers; and 

16 ‘‘(iii) methods of providing the public 

17 information regarding adoption and child 

18 protection. 

19 ‘‘(b) GUIDANCE TO STATES.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

21 the date of the enactment of this section, the Sec22 retary, in consultation with the Secretary of State, 

23 shall issue guidance and technical assistance to 

24 States related to preventing, identifying, and reVerDate Sep 11 2014 17:23 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S397.IS S397
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1 sponding to unregulated custody transfers, including 

2 of adopted children. 

3 ‘‘(2) ELEMENTS.—The guidance required under 

4 paragraph (1) shall include— 

5 ‘‘(A) education and training materials re6 lated to preventing, identifying, and responding 

7 to unregulated custody transfers for employees 

8 of State, local, and Tribal agencies that provide 

9 child welfare services; 

10 ‘‘(B) model State laws with respect to un11 regulated custody transfers; and 

12 ‘‘(C) guidance on appropriate pre-adoption 

13 training and post-adoption services for domestic 

14 and international adoptive families to promote 

15 child permanency. 

16 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

17 ‘‘(1) the term ‘State’ means each of the several 

18 States, the District of Columbia, and any common19 wealth, territory, or possession of the United States; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(2) the term ‘unregulated custody transfer’ 

22 has the meaning given such term in section 3 of the 

23 Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act.’’. 

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