Parents and guardians would control medical care under strict removal rules

Parents and guardians would have the final say over medical care, and medical workers would have to follow their wishes. These rules would cover medical decisions for children and vulnerable adults. Medical choices would be protected when the parent or guardian believes they serve the child's or vulnerable adult's best interests. Removal into state or medical care would require known abuse or neglect and a criminal complaint filed in an investigation. Reports would require clear and convincing evidence, a high level of proof, of parental or guardian negligence or intent to harm the child. Families could leave for care elsewhere without official involvement if the parent or guardian determines that medical workers are mistreating them. The bill specifies a start date on and after July 1, 2026, but the recorded actions do not establish enactment.

Medical workers and officials would have to stop specified abuse reports, investigations, and questioning. The screening rule covers children brought for care. The rule ending questioning also covers parents, guardians, and vulnerable adults. Medical reasons for seeking care could not be dismissed or treated as grounds to assume abuse, neglect, or a need for protective services. A child's screening finding no abuse or neglect would bar further reporting or investigation. Questioning would stop when a social worker, psychiatrist, or psychologist concludes that no further investigation is warranted. A facility worker's report after no initial indication of abuse or neglect could trigger legal consequences; any resulting child protection case would have to end. The bill specifies that these limits would apply on and after July 1, 2026, if enacted.

People responsible for what the bill calls medical kidnapping would face kidnapping laws, licensing consequences, and abuse registry listing. The definition describes wrongful removal of children under 18 or vulnerable adults from parents or guardians by police, social workers, or other officials in listed circumstances. Listed circumstances include concerns about harmful treatment, removal despite a clear screening, and care or taking belongings without parental or guardian consent. License loss would follow applicable licensing laws, and Idaho abuse registry listing would be at level one. People with full or partial custody of a child or vulnerable adult would face a protection investigation and have to complete its requirements, including a psychological evaluation and courses. Those courses could not be taught by social workers, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, state employees, or state contractors. The bill specifies that these provisions would apply on and after July 1, 2026, if enacted.

Parents and guardians could sue individuals responsible for medical kidnapping and seek payment for losses, damages, and attorney's fees. Lawsuit rights would cover parents and guardians of affected children and vulnerable adults. The separate adult provision covers wrongful removal over potentially harmful treatment or despite a screening finding no abuse, neglect, or exploitation. Medical workers and officials could not use inappropriate, discriminatory, or insulting language about patients in their care; that language could also lead to a lawsuit. Parents and guardians could report a child subjected to medical kidnapping as missing. The bill specifies that these rights would apply on and after July 1, 2026, if enacted.

The kidnapping definition would cover taking or holding a child under 18 with the listed intentions. This part of the kidnapping definition would cover children under 18 and would apply beyond medical settings. The person must act willfully and intend to hide or keep the child from someone with lawful custody or care, or to steal an item on the child. The bill specifies that this definition would apply on and after July 1, 2026, if enacted.