Families push back

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MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Tuesday the 26th of August.

This is WORLD Radio and we’re so glad you’ve joined us today. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

First up on The World and Everything in It: Assembly Bill 495 in California. The measure would let non-parents care for children when parents can’t—and it’s sparking protests.

Supporters call it a safeguard for children of detained or deported parents. But opponents warn it’s a dangerous threat to parental rights.

WORLD associate correspondent Elisa Palumbo reports.

ELISA PALUMBO: A few thousand people have gathered on the Capitol lawn in Sacramento, California. Some wear MAGA hats, others are dressed in red, white, and blue. Most are holding hand-made signs with slogans like “Protect CA Kids NO AB495.”

JACK HIBBS: And so with that, I'm going to ask right now for you guys to somehow find the shade that you can get a hat on your head.

That’s Pastor Jack Hibbs from Calvary Chapel in Chino Hills. He worked with pro-family advocacy groups to organize this rally against Assembly Bill 495. They say the bill’s language is too vague.

Brad Dacus agrees. He’s an attorney from Pacific Justice Institute, a non-profit legal defense organization. He claims AB 495 could allow complete strangers to gain custody of any child in the state of California. He says the bill needs to be killed immediately.

BRAD DACUS: This is the human trafficking, pedophile, estranged spouse holiday, and that's why we need to oppose it. It's a direct assault on parental rights.

California Assemblywoman Celeste Rodriguez introduced AB 495 in April as the Family Preparedness Plan Act of 2025. She drafted it as a response to increased ICE raids. She says the intent is to make it easier for a child of deported parents to receive care from a trusted, nonfamily member.

The problem is how the bill expands the definition of relatives and caregivers… raising concerns from many California parents that it could be misused.

Nicole Young is a mother of six who testified against AB 495 twice in the California Senate. She says when she first read it, she was shocked by its ambiguous language.

NICOLE YOUNG: It's not a well written bill. The language is very broad and it has the possibility of unintended consequences. And I said this in my first testimony, we can help vulnerable immigrant families, but not like this.

California has had the Caregiver Authorization Affidavit in place for 30 years. It’s a legal tool that allows for non-parent caregivers who are already living with the child to enroll them in school and consent to school-related medical treatment. The current version of the affidavit does not require a parent’s signature—presumably because the parent in question is unable to care for their child due to addiction or incarceration.

SPEAKER: It is the name of the adult claiming to be a caregiver and their home address, and then they can have access to that child's ability to have dental care, medical care, and be a caregiver in place of the caregiver without the parent’s consent.

But AB 495 would take that a step further—particularly in cases where a child’s parents have been detained by ICE. It expands the current law…allowing nonfamily members to use the Caregiver Affidavit.

Karen England is president of the Capitol Resource Institute, a pro-family public policy group.

KAREN ENGLAND: It's clear it expands the definition of a family to include a mentor, coach, all of that. So it's in the bill. You can read it.

The bill defines a “nonrelative extended family member,” as any adult who has an established “familial or mentoring relationship” with the child or relative of the child.

Monica Madrid is a spokeswoman for CHIRLA, an immigrant rights group lobbying for AB 495. She says the opposition is spreading misinformation.

MONICA MADRID: One of the things that they're saying is just anyone can pick up the child for school. Schools already have protections for that.

Madrid says the bill updates existing protections to make it easier for immigrant children to receive temporary guardianship from trusted individuals who might not be direct family members. It’s meant to keep these kids from being taken by Child Protective Services.

MADRID: We're not updating the affidavit like we're not going through the affidavit itself. We're just adding to include in the case of the child's parents being detained or deported by federal administration, not the full on affidavit.

But some of the protesters I spoke to say that as it’s written, the bill is not just for children of immigrants. Nicole Young again:

YOUNG: The language does not say that. It does not. It says if the parent has been detained, deported, or is unreachable. Unreachable could be I'm in a doctor's appointment, can't answer my phone, so it is a very vaguely written. If they, even if they just removed that, it would change the whole fabric of the bill.

When Young testified in the senate, she asked that the bill be amended for clarity. The bill’s authors ignored her requests.

The current affidavit only requires a caregiver to say the child lives with them and provide their driver’s license number. Opponents worry that the lack of additional verification allows for anyone to take a child into their custody.

Madrid says this is fear-mongering. She explains the bill does not allow for a complete stranger to pick up a child.

MADRID: the goal is to have someone that's trusted both by the parent and the child, to be the temporary guardian, not a complete stranger.

Both sides of the debate say they want what’s best for immigrant kids. But critics of the bill want to safeguard parents’ rights. The creeping erosion of parental rights in California has given its citizens cause for concern.

YOUNG: Let's seek a solution that that everybody's safe and everybody is careful. This is not it.

AB 495 is currently in appropriations. It has until August 29th to move forward from committee. If it moves forward, it will go to the senate floor and eventually to the governor’s desk.

HIBBS: Lord heal our land, we pray, and we've gathered together to do that very thing.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Elisa Palumbo in Sacramento, California.

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