Committee advances amendment to Idaho Safe Haven Act requiring faster placement and tribal notice

The Senate Health and Welfare Committee on Jan. 29 voted to send RS 32140 to print, a rules-committee substitute that would amend Idaho Code section 39-8202 to update the state's Safe Haven procedures.

The bill, presented by Senator Tammy Nichols, would require the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to maintain a list of licensed adoption agencies for placement of children left under the Safe Haven Act and to ensure custody transfers to a selected agency within 24 hours unless there are urgent medical circumstances. If a child requires medical care and no adoptive family is found within 48 hours, the child would remain in a hospital and the court and prosecutors would be notified to initiate a shelter care hearing, Nichols said.

Committee members said the measure is intended to place infants with vetted adoptive families quickly and to reduce strain on foster care. "This legislation amends section 39-8202 of the Idaho code updating the Safe Haven Act to include new definitions and provisions," Nichols told the committee, and added the bill is intended to "avoid the need for the children to enter the foster care system." The draft also directs immediate notification to a tribe or the Bureau of Indian Affairs and issuance of required notices within 10 days when there is reason to believe the child is an Indian child so that Indian Child Welfare Act procedures can be followed.

The bill text, as presented in committee, also includes language emphasizing coordination with tribes on language and policy and states that the amendments are advisory to streamline procedures without creating new state general-fund obligations. Nichols said the proposal was coordinated with the director of Health and Welfare.

Committee members asked clarifying questions about how placements are handled under current practice. Senator Harris asked, "So the bill makes the change that the department will maintain a list of licensed adoption agencies and then the Indian child. What happens to them now?" Nichols replied, "So right now, they would go into the foster care system." Senator Wintrow asked for additional operational details and for data on how many Safe Haven boxes exist and whether children have been left in them; Nichols offered to provide that information as part of a full hearing.

Senator Keiser moved to send RS 32140 to print; the motion was seconded. The committee voted verbally in favor and the motion passed. The committee did not record a roll-call tally in the hearing transcript.

If advanced, the language would apply to placements under Idaho's Safe Haven statute and requires the Department of Health and Welfare to take the specified notification and placement steps. The sponsor and committee described the proposal as intended to expedite vetted placements and reduce entries into the foster care system.

The committee sent RS 32140 to print and the sponsor stood for further questions.