A Florida Senate committee has approved a bill cracking down on parents who illegally put their adopted children up for adoption again. The practice often involves children who were adopted from other countries.
It's called "re-homing." It puts kids – for free – into new families. The kids are typically offered for adoption on the internet by parents who just don’t want them anymore.
An investigation by Reuters news agency found children often wind up being physically and sexually abused in their new homes.“I couldn’t believe what is going on with people who have adopted kids and who they’re giving the kids to,” said Hollywood Democrat Eleanor Sobel.
Sobel chairs the Senate committee that proposed the legislation to make illegally moving a child to a new home more difficult in Florida.
“It’s just like putting up kids for sale, but there’s really no monetary exchange," Sobel said. "I think it’s a form of trafficking, human trafficking for children.”
It’s already illegal in Florida to put a child in a new home without a court order and a home study of the new family.
The proposed bill makes it a felony for anyone to advertise a child for adoption. It would require the court to inform adoptive parents that counseling is available. It would also require international adoption agencies to be certified through the U.S. state department.