Three “Pro Adoption” Bills S1308, S1368, and S1309 Passed the State Legislature;
Signed into Law by Idaho Governor Brad Little
BOISE, IDAHO, April 19, 2024 –– Today, less than 1% of American women facing an unplanned pregnancy make an adoption plan. This surprising statistic underlines the need for legislation to dispel the myths surrounding adoption, raise awareness about open adoption, and make it easier for women facing unplanned pregnancy to choose adoption.
Three bills were developed by UnplannedGood.org to support future birth mothers, educate minors and young adults, and decrease costs for future adoptive parents. Bills S1308, S1368, and S1309 start an important conversation.
Bill S1308 provides education on adoption to students from middle school through university regarding their potential future options.
"Wherever and whenever contraception is discussed or dispensed, or both, or sexually transmitted diseases or sexually transmitted infections are discussed or tested for, or both" ... then, students will be educated on current adoption practices, resources, and the Safe Haven Act option. This will apply to students from middle school through University. Future generations will learn about adoption before the crisis, and will have more complete information about ALL their options.
Bill S1368 protects future birth mothers from unlicensed out-of-state adoption facilitators, providing a safeguard against unethical practices.
This new law ensures that unlicensed adoption facilitators from out-of-state will no longer be able to advertise in Idaho or match birth mothers with adoptive parents. This was needed because such facilitators take most of the adoptive parents' budget and don't provide the other services needed to finalize the adoption or to care for the birth mother. Plus, these intermediaries were operating without any kind of oversight. With this bill, people arranging adoptions must be licensed professionals, either agencies or attorneys.
Bill S1309 assists future adoptive parents and birth mothers by eliminating the financial limits placed on birth mother expenses at the state level.
Removing the expense cap makes it easier to cover a birth mother’s expenses (with less delay and less hassle) while decreasing the overall cost of adoption by lessening the administrative burdens. This also removes the incentive for placing babies in any of the other 40 states that have already eliminated their caps on birth mother expenses, thus keeping Idaho babies in Idaho.
These bills were drafted and advanced by Unplanned Good Inc., a national non-profit organization. Most (or all!) of the adoption legislation in this country benefits the adoptive parents; we at Unplanned Good believe this is the first legislative effort done with the birth parents in mind.
We are thrilled about these bills, and believe they will have significant impact.
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The Mission of Unplanned Good Inc.
All too often, young women face unplanned pregnancies. When they do, they typically see only two choices: to become parents, often in their teens, or to terminate their pregnancies. It’s rare that they consider the alternative path – seeing the pregnancy through to delivery and placing the baby for adoption.
The mission of our organization is to promote adoption as a viable, reasonable option for those dealing with unplanned pregnancies, such that the result is good for all involved.
For more information, see UnplannedGood.org
To support our work, go to UnplannedGood.org/donate