Title: Safe Home Act of 2018
Policy area: Families

Summary:
Safe Home Act of 2018
This bill amends the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to make unregulated custody transfers of children to strangers a form of child abuse and neglect, therefore allowing child-welfare agencies to investigate such transfers.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3173 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3173

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

                             June 28, 2018

  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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Safe Home Act of 2018''.

SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF UNREGULATED CUSTODY TRANSFER.

    (a) In General.--Section 3 of the Child Abuse Prevention and 
Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5101 note) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (2)--
                    (A) by striking ``or an act or failure'' and 
                inserting ``an act or failure''; and
                    (B) by inserting ``, or an unregulated custody 
                transfer'' after ``serious harm'';
            (2) in paragraph (7), by striking ``; and'' and inserting a 
        semicolon;
            (3) in paragraph (8), by striking the period at the end and 
        inserting ``; and''; and
            (4) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(9) the term `unregulated custody transfer' means the 
        abandonment of a child, by the child's parent, legal guardian, 
        or a person or entity acting on behalf, and with the consent, 
        of such parent or guardian--
                    ``(A) by placing a child with a person who is not--
                            ``(i) the child's parent, step-parent, 
                        grandparent, adult sibling, adult uncle or 
                        aunt, legal guardian, or other relative;
                            ``(ii) a friend of the family who is an 
                        adult and with whom the child is familiar; or
                            ``(iii) a member of the federally 
                        recognized Indian tribe of which the child is 
                        also a member;
                    ``(B) with the intent of severing the relationship 
                between the child and the parent or guardian of such 
                child; and
                    ``(C) without--
                            ``(i) reasonably ensuring the safety of the 
                        child and permanency of the placement of the 
                        child, including by conducting an official home 
                        study, background check, and supervision; and
                            ``(ii) transferring the legal rights and 
                        responsibilities of parenthood or guardianship 
                        under applicable Federal and State law to a 
                        person described in subparagraph (A).''.
    (b) Technical Amendment.--Paragraph (5) of section 3 of the Child 
Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5101 note) is amended by 
striking ``450b'' and inserting ``5304''.
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