republic-os/legislation/us/states/de/151/hb-417.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 10, 13, 16 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ENFORCEMENT OF FAMILY COURT CUSTODY ORDERS.	In cases where the Family Court finds that there are sufficient grounds to order the removal of a child from their home and the Family Court orders custody of the child to the Division of Family Service (DFS), DFS often partners with law enforcement to enforce the order. There have been rare cases where a parent or legal guardian refuses to respond to DFS and law enforcement’s attempts to enforce the order to take custody of the child, resulting in uncertainty and a heightened concern for the child’s safety. Currently, it is unclear under the Delaware Code whether law enforcement is authorized to enter private property to enforce a Family Court custody order, even after all other avenues and strategies have been exhausted by DFS and law enforcement.	us/states/de	Delaware General Assembly	151	HB 417	Delaware HB 417 (151)	bill		enacted	Krista Griffith Kyle Evans Gay	1	7	2	2022-05-10	2022-10-14	openstates	ocd-bill/2e20d00b-4828-4192-9a07-c59d97bf5621	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=109486	34e64b87b1e5951ea07701f0a7c484a44f206bb0ae08de35874dc0c657cab066	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-de

Delaware HB 417 (151) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLES 10, 13, 16 AND 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO ENFORCEMENT OF FAMILY COURT CUSTODY ORDERS.

In cases where the Family Court finds that there are sufficient grounds to order the removal of a child from their home and the Family Court orders custody of the child to the Division of Family Service (DFS), DFS often partners with law enforcement to enforce the order. There have been rare cases where a parent or legal guardian refuses to respond to DFS and law enforcement’s attempts to enforce the order to take custody of the child, resulting in uncertainty and a heightened concern for the child’s safety. Currently, it is unclear under the Delaware Code whether law enforcement is authorized to enter private property to enforce a Family Court custody order, even after all other avenues and strategies have been exhausted by DFS and law enforcement.

Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. Bill Text (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• SM — 37–0 (pass) · lower
• SM — 20–1 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Krista Griffith — primary (person)
• Kyle Evans Gay — primary (person)
• Bruce C. Ennis — cosponsor (person)
• Debra Heffernan — cosponsor (person)
• Kimberly Williams — cosponsor (person)
• Paul S. Baumbach — cosponsor (person)
• Stephen Smyk — cosponsor (person)
• Valerie Longhurst — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

• 2022-05-10 Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House introduction, referral-committee
• 2022-05-17 Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in House with 4 Favorable, 4 On Its Merits committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable
• 2022-06-07 Passed By House. Votes: 37 YES 4 ABSENT passage
• 2022-06-07 Assigned to Judiciary Committee in Senate introduction, referral-committee
• 2022-06-22 Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in Senate with 4 On Its Merits committee-passage
• 2022-06-29 Passed By Senate. Votes: 20 YES 1 NO passage
• 2022-10-14 Signed by Governor executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/2e20d00b-4828-4192-9a07-c59d97bf5621. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).