NEWS . . . FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, June 19, 2008
From: Martin Hawley, the Office of State Representative Calvin Hill

REPRESENTATIVE CALVIN HILL TO CHAIR COMMITTEE

TO RE-WRITE CHILD PROTECTION LAWS

Speaker of the House, Glenn Richardson, has appointed Chairman Calvin Hill to head up a Special Committee to study and rewrite laws for the protection of abused and neglected children. Working with co-chair, Representative Kathy Ashe, and a hand-picked panel of experienced Legislators, Chairman Hill will endeavor to update some of Georgia’s archaic laws and allow the courts to more easily decide what is in the child’s best interests, not that of the parents.

“The most recent and tragic death of Amiya Brown, apparently at the hands of her mother’s boyfriend, once again proves the need for restrain in allowing abused children back into the homes of their tormentors. The accidental fact that they are the biological parents gives them no right to torture and kill while our legal community sits by and wrings its hands. I am personally outraged every time I become aware of a child being returned home to an abuser. It is time that we address this injustice to children and start saving some lives while enriching the daily livelihood of other children.” stated Hill when asked why he asked for this committee to be created. “There are a multitude of qualified and caring foster parents that have been denied custody of abused children based solely on the desire to reunite the child with the biological parent. We must start putting the welfare of the child above that of the feelings of an abusive or negligent parent!”

The first hearing of the Committee will be Wednesday, July 9th, 2008 in room 606 in the Coverdell Legislative Building on the Capitol grounds. The committee will accept testimony from all interested parties at that time. As over 30 attorneys, judges and agencies from throughout the state have already expressed interest, individual times will be limited and written presentations will be required in advance. If you wish to speak, please submit your testimony electronically to Committee Aide, Ward Lamb, at ward.lamb@house.ga.gov with a copy to Chairman Hill’s Administrative Assistant, Jan Brown, at jan.brown@house.ga.gov.  Presentations are limited to five minutes.  Please provide all input as soon as possible, but no later than Monday, June 30, 2008.

Subsequent committee meetings will be held to discuss what legislative actions might be required to address the testimony from the public hearing as well as the concerns of the members. Any resultant legislation will then be drafted to present to the General Assembly when they convene in January of 2009.

Calvin Hill

State Representative, District 21

Chairman, Special Rules Committee

Direct cell number - 770-712-2879

# # #

WWW.CALVINHILL.ORG