S 1658 Re-checks Congress.gov for new actions and updates the bill's status, and fills in any sponsors, committees, or related bills that are missing. It does not re-pull sponsors/cosponsors/committees/related — those rarely change — and it skips all work if nothing has changed upstream, so it's cheap to click.
To prohibit entities receiving Federal assistance that are involved in adoption or foster care placements from delaying or denying placements under certain conditions.
Summary
This bill amends the federal foster care and adoption assistance program to add a requirement that entities receiving Federal assistance and involved in adoption or foster care placements cannot delay, deny, or discriminate in placement decisions based on how a prospective or actual adoptive or foster parent addresses a child's sex or their decisions regarding the child's medical treatments or identification documents. The bill defines "sex" as biological sex based on reproductive system characteristics and specifies that placements cannot be denied based on a parent declining to consent to medical or surgical treatments to alter appearance or based on a parent declining to alter a child's birth certificate, passport, or identification documents. The amendment becomes effective in the first fiscal quarter after enactment, with provisions allowing states additional time if they need to pass legislation to comply.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Banks, Jim [R-IN] (R-IN)
1 cosponsor
- Sen. Cotton, Tom [R-AR] (R-AR)
Actions (2)
- May 7, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. · senate
- May 7, 2025 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 7, 2025
Mr. Banks (for himself and Mr. Cotton) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
A BILL
To prohibit entities receiving Federal assistance that are involved in adoption or foster care placements from delaying or denying placements under certain conditions.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Sensible Adoption For Every Home Act” or the “SAFE Home Act”.
SEC. 2. STATE PLAN REQUIREMENT UNDER THE FEDERAL FOSTER CARE AND ADOPTION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.
(a) In General.—Section 471(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 671(a)) is amended—
(1) by striking “and” at the end of paragraph (36);
(2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (37) and inserting “; and”; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
“(38)(A) prohibits any entity that receives Federal assistance and is involved in adoption or foster care placements from delaying or denying the placement of a minor child for adoption or into foster care, or otherwise discriminating in making a placement decision with a prospective or actual adoptive or foster parent, for any of the following reasons:
“(i) The parent raises, cares for, and addresses a child in a manner consistent with the child’s sex.
“(ii) The parent declines to consent to a child receiving any medical, surgical, pharmacological, or psychological treatment or other medical or mental health service for the purpose of attempting to alter the appearance of, or to validate a child’s perception of, the child’s sex, if the appearance or perception is inconsistent with the child’s sex.
“(iii) The parent declines to consent to an amendment or alteration to a child’s birth certificate, passport, driver’s license, school records, or other government-issued identification document, if the amendment or alteration is inconsistent with the child’s sex; and
“(B) for purposes of this paragraph, defines—
“(i) the term ‘sex’ as biological sex, either male or female;
“(ii) the term ‘female’ as an individual who has, had, will have, or but for a developmental or genetic anomaly or historical accident would have, a reproductive system that at some point produces, transports, and utilizes eggs for fertilization; and
“(iii) the term ‘male’ as an individual who has, had, will have, or but for a developmental or genetic anomaly or historical accident would have, a reproductive system that at some point produces, transports, and utilizes sperm for fertilization.”.
(b) Effective Date.—
(1) In general.—The amendment made by this Act shall take effect on the 1st day of the 1st fiscal quarter beginning on or after the date of the enactment of this Act, and shall apply to payments under part E of title IV of the Social Security Act for calendar quarters beginning on or after such date.
(2) Delay permitted if state legislation required.—If the Secretary of Health and Human Services determines that State legislation (other than legislation appropriating funds) is required in order for a State plan developed pursuant to part E of title IV of the Social Security Act to meet the additional requirements imposed by the amendments made by this Act, the plan shall not be regarded as failing to meet any of the additional requirements before the 1st day of the 1st calendar quarter beginning after the first regular session of the State legislature that begins after the date of the enactment of this Act. For purposes of the preceding sentence, if the State has a 2-year legislative session, each year of the session is deemed to be a separate regular session of the State legislature. <all>
Comments