SAFE Home Act
The SAFE Home Act would amend the Social Security Act to prevent any entity that receives federal assistance and is involved in adoption or foster care placements from delaying or denying a placement, or discriminating in placement decisions, for specific reasons related to a child’s sex and a parent’s decisions about medical care or identification documents. Specifically, it bars actions against a prospective or current adoptive or foster parent if they: (1) raise and care for a child in a manner consistent with the child’s biological sex; (2) decline medical, surgical, pharmacological, or psychological treatment aimed at altering or validating a child’s gender appearance or perceived gender; and (3) decline to amend government IDs (birth certificates, passports, licenses, school records, etc.) in ways that would be inconsistent with the child’s biological sex. The bill defines sex strictly as biological, and it sets a phased effective date tied to the federal fiscal calendar, with a potential delay for states requiring legislation to meet the new requirements. In short, it aims to ensure placements are not postponed or blocked based on these specified gender-related factors, by entities receiving federal funding.
Key Points
- 1Prohibits any entity receiving federal assistance and involved in adoption or foster care placements from delaying or denying a placement, or discriminating in placement decisions, for specified reasons tied to the child’s sex and parental decisions.
- 2Prohibited grounds include: (i) a parent raising a child in line with the child’s biological sex; (ii) a parent declining to consent to medical or other treatments aimed at changing or validating the child’s sex appearance or perceived gender; (iii) a parent declining to amend a child’s government-issued IDs if such changes would be inconsistent with the child’s biological sex.
- 3Defines key terms: sex as biological sex (male or female); female as someone with a reproductive system that would produce eggs; male as someone with a reproductive system that would produce sperm.
- 4Effective date and implementation: the amendment takes effect on the first day of the first fiscal quarter after enactment and applies to calendar quarters for part E payments under Title IV of the Social Security Act thereafter; a state delay is allowed if state legislation is needed to meet the new requirements.
- 5State implementation flexibility: if a state needs non-funding legislation to comply, its plan will not be considered out of compliance until the first quarter after the state's next regular session begins.