The civic record
Read. Follow. Verify.Texas Prohibits Unregulated Child Custody Transfers and Establishes Criminal Penalties Effective September 2025
Last action · May 7, 2025: Committee report sent to CalendarsSponsors: David Cook and 1 other
Track this bill to get notified when it advances a stage. One tap to stop, anytime.
What This Bill Proposed
Parents, s, and adoptive placement individuals are prohibited from transferring child custody to abandon parental rights and responsibilities outside of legal adoption, court awards, child-placing agencies, or designated infant care providers, starting September 1, 2025. Violations carry Class B or third-degree felony penalties.
Parents or intermediaries who bypass lawful adoption or court procedures when transferring child custody face criminal misdemeanor or felony prosecution.
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Parents and Conservators
Parents and conservators are restricted from transferring child custody outside of recognized legal channels and face criminal penalties for non-compliance.
Department of Family and Protective Services
The department gains explicit authority to investigate potential violations, conduct home visits, prepare welfare reports for intercountry adoptions, and take legal action.
Intermediaries and Child-Placing Agencies
Intermediaries are prohibited from facilitating unlawful custody transfers or soliciting such transfers under threat of misdemeanor or felony charges.
Key Facts
You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the criminal penalties for violating the custody transfer restrictions?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
Follow the record
Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Died at adjournment · in House committee.
Procedural history
13 actions- May 7, 2025HouseCommittee report sent to Calendars
- May 6, 2025HouseCommittee report distributed
- May 6, 2025HouseComte report filed with Committee Coordinator
- Apr 28, 2025HouseCommitteeReported favorably w/o amendment(s)
- Apr 28, 2025HouseConsidered in formal meeting
- Apr 28, 2025HouseRecalled from subcommittee
Show 7 earlier actions
- Apr 14, 2025HouseLeft pending in subcommittee
- Apr 14, 2025HouseTestimony taken/registration(s) recorded in subcommittee
- Apr 14, 2025HouseConsidered by s/c in public hearing
- Apr 14, 2025HouseScheduled for public hearing in s/c on . . .
- Mar 14, 2025HouseCommitteeReferred to s/c on Family & Fiduciary Relationships by Speaker
- Mar 14, 2025HouseIntroducedRead first time
- Jan 16, 2025HouseIntroducedFiled
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Adoption of Uniform Act Standards
The bill codifies the Uniform Unregulated Child Custody Transfer Act to promote legal uniformity across participating states.
Connected Entities
Sources
capitol.texas.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 75)
- Controversy25Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz40Current news / social attention level
Publisher tools