BOSTON (AP) — The Massachusetts Senate has passed legislation to address the unregulated practice of exchanging an adopted child — also known as “re-homing.”
Re-homing occurs when adoptive parents who believe they can no longer care for the child posts an ad on the Internet to pass the child on to another parent or family without any government oversight.
The bill was approved Thursday. It establishes oversight for families who can no longer care for adopted children to ensure they’re safely moved to another family under government regulation and through legal avenues.
The bill includes penalties for parents who unlawfully place a child permanently in a new home.
The measure heads to the Massachusetts House.
“By addressing the issue of re-homing, which poses exceptional dangers for one of our most at- risk youth populations, we are building on bipartisan efforts to strengthen protections for children across the Commonwealth,” said Senator Don Humason. “It is also important for us to take steps to ensure that adults interested in adopting can utilize the safest and most capable legal adoption services the Commonwealth can provide to discourage involvement in unregulated practices like re-homing.”
“The Senate remains focused on ensuring the safety and well-being of our children and families. Re-homing poses a grave danger to the children involved, and this bill establishes deterrents to eliminate this abhorrent practice,” said Senate President Stan Rosenberg (D-Amherst). “By including additional family support services for adoptive parents we will provide them with the tools they need to grow healthy families. The significant penalties established in this legislation will hopefully make people think twice before engaging in re-homing.”
“We have a solemn obligation to prevent children from being put in jeopardy by being transferred outside the safeguards and accountability of our well-developed adoption system,” said Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R – Gloucester). “This bill reflects that obligation by creating a serious and appropriate range of penalties for those who would put a child in another’s hands without regard for safety and well-being.”
“Children, who are often adopted from overseas and desperate for family connection and stability, can potentially end up in the hands of sexual predators with little more than a handshake between the original adoptive parent and the new individual or family,” stated Erin G. Bradley, Executive Director of the Children’s League of Massachusetts. “If safety of our children is a priority for the state, then this loophole must be closed.”
