PROPOSED INDIANA LEGISLATION
Childhood is short.
Protect children now.
Addie’s Law seeks to give families a way to ask a court to consider parental rights after a parent is convicted of certain serious offenses involving children.
HOW ITS INTENDED TO WORK
A pathway, with a court decision.
The proposal addresses access to a legal process. It does not predetermine the result.
1
A qualifying conviction
A parent is convicted of a specified serious offense involving child sexual exploitation, solicitation, or abuse.
2
A petition to the court
The other parent has a legal way to ask the court to consider parental rights, even when their child was not the direct victim, and even without an open DCS case.
3
An individual decision
The court hears evidence and applies due process to decide what is appropriate for the child.
Some gaps in the law don’t become visible until a family falls into them.
After Addie’s biological father was convicted for digital crimes involving children, I started asking how to protect her from him when he was eventually released.
I never imaged that the law would not have a clear answer.
Your voice could make a difference
FOR FAMILIES
Addie’s family is not alone. Parents and caregivers who have faced a similar gap can help lawmakers understand what families experience and why a clear path to the court matters.
You deserve to decide whether to tell your story and which parts of it you want to share. A private first contact should never require you to publish a child’s name or identifying details.
LEARN MORE
Questions & Answers
Read questions and answers about the proposal and its safeguards. Existing Indiana Code § 31-35-3-4 already provides a limited conviction-based route; Addie’s Law seeks to address situations outside that route.
UNDERSTANDING THE PROPOSAL
-
Addie’s Law is proposed Indiana legislation created in honor of my daughter, Adelaide.
It was born from a question I never expected to have to ask:
What happens when a parent is convicted of a serious child-related sexual offense—but the child the offender has parental rights to was not the child who was harmed?
Today, families in that situation can find themselves without a clear pathway to even ask a court to consider terminating that person’s parental rights.
Addie’s Law seeks to change that.
-
In many cases, no. This is partially because parental rights and criminal convictions are handled through different areas of law.
A criminal conviction establishes criminal responsibility for the offense. Termination of parental rights is a separate civil proceeding with its own statutory requirements and constitutional protections.
Indiana’s current termination process is generally tied to circumstances involving the child and the child-welfare system, such as Child Protective Services.
That creates a difficult situation for families like mine:
A person can be convicted of sexually exploiting, abusing, or soliciting children, yet still retain rights to their own children - even children they may not have an established relationship with. In cases like mine, the non-offending parent may not have a legal pathway to ask the court for termination based on that conviction alone when their child was not the victim.
Addie’s Law seeks to create that pathway.
-
No.
This is an important distinction.
Addie’s Law is not about automatically stripping someone of parental rights because they have been accused or even convicted of a crime.
It is about creating a pathway to petition the court when a parent has been convicted of specified serious offenses involving the sexual exploitation or abuse of children.
The court would still have to consider the evidence, the statutory requirements, due process, and the best interests and safety of the child.
The goal is not to replace the court’s judgment.
The goal is to make sure families have the ability to ask the question in the first place.
-
No.
It recognizes something much simpler:
A serious conviction involving the sexual exploitation or abuse of children is information that a court should be able to consider when determining whether continuing a person’s parental rights is in a child’s best interests.
The court—not the legislation—would make the final determination.
-
Because the fact that a child was not the direct victim of a particular offense does not necessarily mean the offender poses no risk to that child.
Parents are entrusted with extraordinary access, authority, and responsibility in a child’s life.
When a parent has been convicted of a serious offense involving the sexual exploitation or abuse of children, families should have a meaningful way to ask a court whether maintaining that legal parent-child relationship is safe and appropriate.
Addie’s Law does not presume the answer.
It creates a process for the question to be heard.
-
This is one of the gaps Addie’s Law seeks to address.
Child-predator investigations can involve undercover operations, simulated or fictitious (not real) minors, or situations in which there is no real individual child victim but rather a “decoy” that is used.
A parent should not have to argue that a specific child was harmed before the court can consider the significance of a serious child-solicitation conviction.
The conduct and conviction itself can provide important information about the individual’s behavior and risk.
Addie’s Law seeks to make sure the absence of an identifiable victim does not automatically mean the conviction is irrelevant to that person’s parental rights.
-
Child exploitation offenses can involve conduct that does not require the offender to physically abuse a child.
That does not make the conduct harmless.
Addie’s Law recognizes that child sexual exploitation is itself serious conduct that may be relevant when a court evaluates whether a person should continue to have legal parental rights and access to a child.
The legislation is intended to allow a court to evaluate the circumstances rather than requiring families to wait until their own child becomes a victim.
-
Those rights matter.
Parental rights are constitutionally protected, and termination is an extreme legal action. Indiana courts recognize that termination must satisfy statutory requirements and that it is not something to be done lightly.
Addie’s Law does not seek to eliminate due process.
It seeks to ensure that a parent has a legitimate statutory avenue to bring the issue before a court, where evidence can be presented and the court can make the ultimate determination.
-
Addie is the reason this legislation exists.
But it is not only about Addie.
I know there are other parents who have discovered that the person they share a child with has committed horrific offenses involving children—and then discovered that the law does not give them the pathway they expected to protect their own child.
Some have been told, in essence:
“Your child wasn’t the victim.”
Some don’t have an identifiable victim at all.
Some are left waiting for the possibility that something could happen to their own child before the system can respond differently.
I don’t believe we should require another child to be harmed before we take a convicted child predator’s conduct seriously.
SAFETY AND SCOPE
-
Addie’s Law could help families facing circumstances where:
A parent has been convicted of a qualifying child sexual exploitation, solicitation, or abuse offense;
The parent’s own child was not the direct victim;
There is no identifiable victim because the offense involved a fictitious or undercover child;
The parent is incarcerated or will eventually be released;
The other parent believes continued legal parental rights may pose a serious risk to the child;
And current law does not provide a clear pathway to petition for termination based on the conviction.
These families deserve a way to bring their concerns before a court.
-
You can help turn Addie’s experience into change.
Sign the petition.
Contact your Indiana legislators.
Share Addie’s story.
Tell someone about the gap Addie’s Law is trying to close.
And if your family has faced a similar situation, share your story with us.
Because Addie should not be the last child whose story leads us to ask this question.
We cannot change what happened.
But we can change what happens next.
GETTING INVOLVED
Help shape a stronger path for children
WORK WITH US
Thoughtful legislation takes people who understand children, families, the courts, and the systems around them. We welcome people who want to listen, review the proposal, and share insight consistent with their professional roles.
Advocates
Child Advocacy Orgs
Lawmakers
Attorneys
Judges
Ways to Partner
Review the proposed legal pathway. Help identify safeguards and practical considerations. Connect affected families with appropriate support. Bring perspectives from prevention, advocacy, and the child welfare field.
We are setting up a separate contact route for professional partners, apart from family story sharing.