ATLANTA — Georgia parents suspected of child abuse while seeking medical care for their children may soon legally have the right to a second medical opinion, thanks to the newly proposed Ridge’s Law. 

Introduced Wednesday, Senate Bill 259 was fast-tracked to a Children and Families committee hearing Friday. Lawmakers passed the bill unanimously. 

The only amendment? To rename it Ridge’s Law, honoring the more than year-long struggle for Casey and Bailey Collins to get their son Ridge back in their custody. Georgia State Sen. Matt Brass brought forth the bill; the Collins live in his district.

“Let the process play out,” Brass first said to Ridge’s grandfather, who would continuously call the senator to act. “Well, when I told him that, I thought this process was going to be a few days, maybe two, three weeks. But Ridge was taken from the home for 15 months.”

Bailey Collins was there to share her story, and explain though they’ve come out on the other end, the scars remain.

“My son was taken away from us, and during my son’s first admission, we begged doctors for a second opinion to have someone else review the records to which a hand was put in our face and told it was not necessary,” Baily Collins testified to the committee Friday. “But me and my husband knew that our Ridge was not abused.”

11Alive’s Investigative series Help That Harms features the Collins family and their fight to clear their names

This bill has moved quickly.

It was presented a day before 11Alive Senior Investigator Rebecca Lindstrom hosted a viewing of her series Help That Harms at the Georgia Capitol. For the past two years, she’s highlighted families who were blindsided when doctors accused them of neglect or abuse against their children; her investigation raised concerns about parents’ right to due process.

Once accused, typically by a child abuse pediatrician, parents would immediately lose custody of their child and were left fighting for information and an independent evaluation. Many faced lengthy juvenile court battles or even a costly battle against criminal charges.

Ridge’s Law aims to change that.

It would revise the juvenile code and codify a procedure when there is a determination of suspected child abuse or neglect, a move that advocates call a game-changer for fractured families fighting to reunite.

Now it races to meet the Crossover deadline, which is March 6.

This proposed legislation comes a week after the Georgia Department of Human Services announced significant changes to its child abuse allegation process to address this issue as well. Parents can now get a medical opinion without state or court permission, and those results must be shared with the juvenile court judge overseeing the case. Doctors must also confirm they’ve reviewed the child’s complete medical history before making abuse accusations.

This policy, coupled with the SB259, comes after Lindstrom’s two-year investigation chronicling the journey of nearly a dozen Georgia families who were shocked to lose custody of their children after taking them to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta for unexplained medical injuries. Most said they weren’t aware a child abuse pediatrician (CAP) was analyzing their child’s injuries for signs of abuse. While the parents interviewed said they understood and want doctors, along with the Georgia Division and Family Services (DFCS), to protect children, they question how much they genuinely want to figure out the cause once a label of abuse has been used.

11Alive Investigator Rebecca Lindstrom has been looking into the Help That Harms. Follow her investigation on demand via our streaming app 11Alive+ Available on Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV or in the YouTube playlist below.