California’s “Compassionate” Kidnapping Law

California is at it again. Under the guise of compassion, Assemblywoman Celeste Rodriguez has sponsored Assembly Bill 495, stating, The bill “is a critical tool that will preserve California’s families,” and adding, “We must do everything we can to safeguard families from separation and ensure children are supported.”

Rodriguez wrote the bill to offer empathetic solutions for immigrant families who may experience sudden separations due to detention or deportation. However, the bill does not specify which children are included; instead, it applies to all children in the state.

Misleadingly titled, the “Family Preparedness Plan Act of 2025,” the bill has too many backdoors that unscrupulous individuals can exploit. Critics, including attorneys, parental rights advocates, and faith-based organizations, warn that it dangerously redefines guardianship, strips away parental rights, and creates legal loopholes that make kidnapping children easier.

The bill states:

“The bill would expand the type of person who is authorized to execute a caregiver’s authorization affidavit to include a “nonrelative extended family member,” and grant them the same rights to authorize school-related medical care for minors that are given to guardians. By expanding who is authorized to sign a caregiver’s authorization affidavit for these purposes under penalty of perjury, this bill would expand the crime of perjury, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. This bill would amend the statutory form for a caregiver’s authorization affidavit.”

Rodriguez isn’t fooling anyone. This legislation allows for a “nonrelative extended family member” to garner the same rights as the parents. This includes medical care, which provides for abortion, puberty blockers, and sex-change operations for the kids of parents who don’t support their gender delusions.

The bill is similar to SB497, which liberal Scott Wiener sponsored. That legislation stated that it “recognizes California’s role in prioritizing the safety of those seeking gender affirming health care.”

Translation: the state of California thinks it can do a better job of raising your kids than you can. “Gender affirming health care” should be about counseling children that they are the biological sex they were born as, and nothing is going to change that. Instead, it promotes that through the use of puberty blockers or surgery, you can alter your genetics, which is a radical leftist lie.

Do the people of California want the state to decide what a “safe” home is? Think about the excuses they could use to infuse your family with their delusions. Is a member of the family a gun owner? Are the children home-schooled? Are the parents Trump supporters? These are all excuses that the left could say make a home unsafe

The bill is written this way:

“If an employee of a school is aware that a pupil’s parent or guardian is not available to care for the pupil, the school shall first exhaust any parental instruction relating to the pupil’s care in the emergency contact information it has for the pupil to arrange for the pupil’s care. A school is encouraged to work with parents or guardians to update their emergency contact information and not to contact Child Protective Services to arrange for the pupil’s care unless the school is unable to arrange for care through the use of emergency contact information or other information or instructions provided by the parent or guardian.”

Erin Friday, an attorney and president of Our Duty-USA, a parent-led advocacy group, referred to AB 495 as “a child trafficker’s and kidnapper’s dream bill.”

“There is no background check, no welfare check, no court oversight, and no verification. All you need is a piece of paper and some form of identification, with no obligation for the adult handing the child over to verify the identification, and presto, someone walks away with your child,”

Friday also disputes Rodriguez’s assertion that this bill is focused explicitly on immigration emergencies. The language of the bill applies to any child for any reason, regardless of their immigration status. It grants temporary legal rights to individuals who may not be related to the child, including those who might not even be known to the child’s parents. A stranger can consent to medical treatments for the child, and the bill protects doctors from any liability if the consenting adult has no actual legal connection to the child.

“We’re talking about a legal pathway for predators to operate in plain sight. This bill is not about immigration. It’s about relinquishing parental rights to unvetted strangers under the guise of compassion.”

AB495 is another attempt by California to infiltrate the families in the state. If enacted, this would set a dangerous precedent for the government to intervene in matters it has no moral right to involve itself in.

Greg Burt, the Vice President of the California Family Council, clearly summarized the concern.

“We affirm the importance of keeping children safe and families together if you can in times of crisis, but compassion without guardrails is not mercy, it is madness.”

Democrats love power and chaos; this bill encompasses both. It gives them control over your children and creates chaos within the household.

As of now, the bill is in the Senate awaiting hearing by the Senate Appropriations Committee.