Rep. Mary Miller, a Republican from Illinois, has proposed legislation aimed at preventing states from separating children from otherwise capable parents because of disagreements over gender identity.
Named the Yaeli Martinez Child Protection Act, the bill would prohibit federally funded child-welfare agencies from removing children solely because their parents raise them in accordance with their biological sex or reject gender-transition procedures. It would also bar agencies from denying foster-care or adoption placements solely because prospective parents intend to raise a child according to that child’s biological sex.
“Raising your son as a boy or your daughter as a girl is fundamental to parenthood, not child abuse,” Miller said in a statement announcing the proposal.
She said the measure would protect the constitutional rights of parents and prevent taxpayer-supported child-welfare agencies from separating children from loving families.
The legislation honors Yaeli Martinez, a California teenager who, according to Miller’s office, was removed from her mother’s care during a dispute involving her gender identity. Martinez remained in the state’s child-welfare system for years before dying by suicide in 2019 at age 19.
Miller’s proposal would affect multiple points in the child-welfare process, including abuse investigations, custody determinations and decisions involving foster and adoptive placements.
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The bill states that a parent’s choice to raise a child according to the child’s biological sex would not, on its own, meet the definition of child abuse. It would also prevent federally funded state child-welfare agencies from removing a child from an otherwise fit parent solely for that reason.
Similar protections would extend to foster and adoptive applicants. Agencies could not reject a prospective family solely because its members affirm the child’s biological sex.
To establish those protections, the legislation would amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act along with child-welfare sections of the Social Security Act. The language applies to parents who choose not to pursue social, medical or surgical gender-transition interventions for their children.
Miller’s office also says the proposal would revise the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act, with the goal of stopping states from improperly claiming custody in disputes covered by the legislation.
The measure would make access to federal funding dependent on compliance and create a private right of action for alleged violations. Families whose rights were infringed could consequently file lawsuits to challenge conduct prohibited under the bill.
