child abduction; biological family relationship

SB 1244 amends Arizona's child abduction law to reclassify certain cases involving parents or family members who keep children who have voluntarily left state custody. It specifies that if a child's natural/adoptive parent or adult with a biological family relationship keeps the child to protect or care for them - without consent and after the child left the placement location - the act becomes a class 1 misdemeanor instead of a felony. This applies only when the child left the state agency placement voluntarily, the keeper is a close family member, and the motive is protective care. The bill does not change penalties for abductions involving non-family members or cases where the child was taken outside Arizona.