Rep. Mary Miller Introduces Bill to Protect Parental Rights

Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) has put forward a bill aimed at preventing states from removing children from fit parents due to disagreements regarding gender identity.

The proposed Yaeli Martinez Child Protection Act would prohibit federally funded state child-welfare agencies from taking children away simply because their parents choose to raise them according to their biological sex or disagree with gender-transition procedures. Additionally, it would stop the denial of foster or adoptive placements based solely on the prospective parents’ commitment to raising the child in line with their biological sex.

“Raising your son as a boy or your daughter as a girl is fundamental to parenthood, not child abuse,” Miller stated in a press release about the legislation.

She further emphasized, “The Yaeli Martinez Child Protection Act defends the constitutional rights of mothers and fathers and stops bureaucrats from using taxpayer-funded child-welfare systems to tear children away from loving families.”

The legislation takes its name from Yaeli Martinez, a teenager from California who was separated from her mother during a conflict regarding her gender identity. According to Miller’s office, Martinez spent years in the child-welfare system and tragically died by suicide in 2019 at the age of 19.

Miller’s proposal touches upon various aspects of the child-welfare process, including allegations of abuse, custody decisions, and placements for foster or adoptive children.

Under this measure, decisions made by parents to raise their child according to their biological sex would not automatically be classified as child abuse. Moreover, state child-welfare systems that rely on federal funding would not be allowed to remove children from otherwise fit parents simply for this reason.

These placement protections extend to both foster and adoptive families as well. Agencies would not be able to reject families solely on the basis that they affirm a child’s biological sex.

The bill aims to amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act along with several provisions of the Social Security Act related to child welfare. It specifically protects parents who refuse social, medical, or surgical gender-transition interventions for their children.

Miller also highlighted proposed changes to the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act, aimed at stopping states from improperly claiming custody over a child in cases related to this legislation.

Compliance with these measures would be tied to federal funding, and the bill would offer individuals the right to sue if their rights are violated. This means families would have a legal avenue to challenge actions that contravene the protections outlined in the measure.