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Senate committee sends Safe Haven Act update to print; bill would require adoption-agency list and faster placement
Summary
The Idaho Senate Health and Welfare Committee voted to send RS 32140 to print. Sponsor Sen. Tammy Nichols said the proposal would require the Department of Health and Welfare to keep a list of licensed adoption agencies and speed placement of infants left in Safe Haven sites, with special notice requirements if an Indian child is involved.
The Idaho Senate Health and Welfare Committee voted to send RS 32140, an update to the state—s Safe Haven Act, to print after a brief presentation by Sen. Tammy Nichols.
Senator Tammy Nichols, R-District 10, said the draft legislation would amend Idaho Code section 39-8202 to require the Department of Health and Welfare to maintain a list of licensed adoption agencies to which infants left at Safe Haven locations could be placed and to streamline custody and notice procedures. "If you're not familiar with the Safe Haven Act... there are places in facilities like fire stations, hospitals, where birth mothers can leave their babies," Nichols said.
The bill would require the department to transfer custody to a selected agency within 24 hours unless urgent medical circumstances intervene. If a child needs medical care and no adoptive family is found within 48 hours, the child would remain in the hospital while the department notifies the court and prosecutors to request a shelter-care hearing, Nichols said. The draft also includes a requirement that, when there is reason to believe a child is an Indian child, the department must immediately notify the child's tribe or the Bureau of Indian Affairs and send all required notices within 10 days so that Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) protections and tribal consultation can be observed.
Nichols told the committee the amendments are intended to clarify and streamline placement procedures and to place infants with vetted adoptive families when possible, rather than moving them into the foster-care system. She said the changes were not expected to increase state general-fund costs. "The goal for the Department of Health and Welfare... has been to help relieve the burden on foster care at this time," Nichols said.
Several committee members asked procedural and factual questions about current placement practice and about how often Safe Haven locations are used; Nichols and the sponsor indicated they would provide additional information at a full hearing. After discussion, the committee voted to send RS 32140 to print.
The measure will be available for a future hearing where more departmental detail and implementation questions will be addressed.
Votes and next steps: The committee voted by voice to send RS 32140 to print; the sponsor said she will stand for questions at a future hearing to provide data on current use of Safe Haven boxes and implementation details.
