Committee advances bill to place safe-haven newborns directly with vetted adoptive parents

The House Health and Welfare Committee on an unspecified date voted to send Senate Bill 1058 to the floor with a ‘‘do pass’’ recommendation, advancing legislation that would route newborns surrendered at safe-haven locations directly to licensed adoptive families rather than into the foster-care system.

The bill’s sponsors and tribal representatives said the change is intended to reduce time newborns spend moving through foster placements and to speed permanent placements with parents who have already completed home studies and background checks. Representative Heather Scott, the bill’s House sponsor, said the measure also adds language to align Idaho law with the federal Indian Child Welfare Act.

"This legislation allows for safe haven babies to avoid being placed in the foster care system and instead get placed with waiting adoptive homes," Representative Heather Scott said. "There is no reason for a healthy newborn to go into an overburdened foster care system program when there are many parents waiting to adopt a baby."

Committee members heard from tribal and advocacy witnesses who said they worked with sponsors and state agencies on the draft. Tyrell Stevenson, legislative director for the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, told the committee the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) — adopted in 1975 and long litigated — requires special safeguards for children who are tribal members and that the bill seeks to balance those protections with the anonymity and speed safe-haven law provides for surrendering parents.

"Safe haven process creates kind of an issue when it comes to complying with the Indian Child Welfare Act," Stevenson said. "In a circumstance of a safe haven where things happen pretty quickly and safe haven is designed to protect the anonymity of and the identity of the parent that's giving up the child for the safety of the child, it really creates a conflict with complying with ICWA."

Under the bill as described to the committee, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare would maintain a list of licensed adoption agencies and contact one such agency within 24 hours after a child is surrendered to a safe-haven facility, unless exigent circumstances prevent that contact. If the department cannot find a placement with a licensed adoption agency within 48 hours, the child would enter the regular foster-care process. Committee witnesses said those timeframes are intended to get infants into stable, preapproved homes as quickly as possible.

Stevenson and other tribal witnesses told the committee that if it is later discovered a surrendered infant is an Indian child, federal ICWA procedures would still apply until an adoption decree is entered. According to testimony, an adoption can be challenged for fraud or malfeasance for up to two years after the decree is entered.

Representatives of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and an adoption-education nonprofit testified in support. Terry Marcroft, representing Unplanned Good, said that adoption education added to Idaho health classes is likely to increase awareness of the safe-haven option and that many vetted couples are already waiting to adopt.

The motion to send Senate Bill 1058 to the House floor with a due-pass recommendation was made on the record by Representative Healy. The committee approved the motion by voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript. Representative Heather Scott indicated she would carry the bill on the floor.

The bill includes language referring to existing Idaho code sections used in safe-haven law and adds a definition for "Indian child" consistent with federal law, per sponsors and testimony. Sponsors said the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare and tribal governments reviewed and helped shape the bill language.

Committee supporters said the measure aims to reduce stress on the foster-care system and shorten the time before infants can bond with permanent families. Tribal and legal advocates emphasized that the bill attempts to preserve ICWA protections and noted the practical difficulty of identifying tribal status when a parent surrenders an infant anonymously.

The committee did not record a detailed vote tally in the hearing transcript. The bill will next go to the full House for consideration.