Rep. Redman’s ‘Safe Families’ bill passes House, 53-15
Rep. Eric Redman’s legislation to amend Idaho law to empower non-profits to train and oversee “host families” for parents who are in crisis or serving in the military and want to temporarily have someone else care for their kids has passed the House on a 53-15 vote. The bill, HB 573, is entitled the “Safe Families Act.”
The Foundation for Government Accountability, a free-market think tank based in Naples, Fla., developed the legislation and has pushed it in multiple states; the group also opposes Medicaid expansion, pushes for restrictions on welfare and favors volunteer-provided health care services.
Idaho law already allows parents to designate someone temporarily to care for their children; current law allows placements of up to six months, or up to a year for those serving in the military. HB 573 expands all placements to up to a year, and lets military families have placements longer than a year. It also authorizes 501c3 charities to train and oversee host families, including conducting background checks on all adults in the host families, and provides various legal protections to the families and organizations involved.
Rep. John Gannon, D-Boise, spoke against the bill. “My principal concern is that the nonprofit itself is not licensed as a child placement agency,” he said. “They do background checks. … They are supposed to do regular supervision,” and provide training to host families. “But there’s nothing in the bill that says who the nonprofit can be, or the responsibilities of the nonprofit itself,” said Gannon, an attorney. “The nonprofit is just that, it has to be a nonprofit under the IRS code. So it gives me a little concern.”
Redman, R-Athol, and other supporters of the bill said state licensing is exactly what they don’t want; they want parents to be able to turn to faith-based groups when they’re in crisis and never involve child protective services or the state’s foster care system.
The 15 “no” votes came from all 14 House Democrats plus GOP Rep. Ron Nate of Rexburg. The bill now moves to the Senate side.
