Stranger danger

The North Carolina Senate Health Committee has approved a bill that would make it unlawful to give your kid away to a complete stranger.

Read that again.

The committee approved a bill that would make it a crime to give your child away to a person other than a relative or another individual with whom the child shares a “substantial relationship.”

A stranger.

Is this currently legal? As of right now one can transfer custody of his or her child to someone else like some sort of Craigslist transaction?

Is anyone else’s mind-blown?

Sen. Tamara Barringer (R-Cary) sponsored the bill. According to The News & Observer of Raleigh, Barringer said there is a “significant problem” with parents having issues with their children and going online to find other people to take care of them.

Barringer said that while she empathizes with those families, meeting “a stranger at a rest stop” is never acceptable.

“There are documented cases where these children have gotten in the hands of human traffickers,” Barringer said.

Assuming that parents aren’t knowingly handing over their own flesh and blood to villains, it seems as if someone on the internet is lying about their intentions—that’s shocking.

If HB 424 becomes law, online and email adoption advertising will be illegal. No longer will parents be allowed to pack up their kids, drive to some agreed upon destination and hand them over like they’re giving away an old punching bag or a set of car speakers.

“Seems like the right thing to do” feels like a bit of an understatement.