The Akron Legal News

Bill would crack down on human trafficking practice of 're-homing' difficult or unwanted children

KEITH ARNOLD
Special to the Legal News
Published: March 23, 2018

The Ohio House of Representatives has taken up legislation that addresses extrajudicial adoptions, perhaps the most pernicious form of human trafficking.

Called re-homing, the practice amounts to a transfer of a child's legitimate custody from either his birth parents or legal, adoptive parents to willing individuals who forgo the lawful adoption process, presumably for illicit reasons.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine advised lawmakers seated for the House Community and Family Advancement Committee that these transfers usually occur when parenting these sometimes difficult children becomes too challenging.

"These kids are often advertised on the internet and too frequently are placed in deplorable conditions with dangerous adults," DeWine said last week during testimony in support of House Bill 515 - a measure meant to preclude the practice. "Unfortunately, Ohio is not immune to this practice and authorities are discovering children in these potentially unsafe situations at an alarming rate."

HB 515 sponsor, Rep. Dorothy Pelanda, R-Marysville, said Ohio juvenile courts are now discovering re-homed children who have been moved to numerous homes within the Buckeye State and in other states.

"These children, who often come from other countries, are adopted by a family who later decide they do not wish to keep the child," the lawmaker said. "They put the child essentially on a website, such as Amazon or eBay, in an attempt to find a new family for him or her.

"They are advertising children on the internet, crossing state borders, and essentially going around the adoption process with no government or adoption agency involved."

Under the bill, mandated reporters, such as healthcare professionals, educators and school administrators, notify the county public children services agency to investigate when the child's attorney-in-fact seeks registration in a school, medical treatment, or other services for the child and presents a document other than a court order, power of attorney, or caretaker authorization as authority for requesting the services.

The mandatory reporter would be required to determine whether the child has been placed with the adult due to a vacation, school-sponsored function or activity or because of a parent's incarceration, military service, medical treatment or incapacity.

Upon receipt of such notice, the county public children services agency shall conduct an evaluation and take whatever additional actions it deems necessary to investigate in accordance with the Ohio Revised Code, Pelanda said.

If the agency determines that the temporary placement of a child is not safe, the agency shall file a Dependency Complaint with the Juvenile Court.

HB 515 also would require completion of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Service's standard form for the disclosure of information about a prospective adoptive child to prospective adoptive parents to include the following information, if applicable:

� Any physical, mental, or emotional conditions in the child's country of origin that the child may have experienced or been exposed to and that may have affected the child's physical and mental health;

� The child's adoptive placement history, including reasons for any disruption in placement.

"This particular language was developed in close consultation with the Ohio attorney general's office and is modeled off the National Association of Attorney General promoted language," the lawmaker detailed.

The bill also would expand the offense of endangering children to include prohibitions against re-homing and nonjudicial grants of parental rights and provides that a person who violates the bill's criminal prohibitions is guilty of a fifth degree felony on the first offense and a fourth degree felony on subsequent offenses.

According to the Ohio Legislative Service Commission's fiscal analysis of the bill, the costs will depend on the number of investigations and the staff time necessary to complete these investigations.

HB 515, which has cosponsor support of nine fellow House members, had not been scheduled a third hearing at time of publication.

[Back]