Senate committee advances bill tightening Georgia neglect definition to clarify parental discretion

The Georgia Senate Judiciary Juvenile Committee voted to give Senate Bill 110 a “do pass” recommendation after sponsors said the bill would narrow the state's definition of neglect and clarify that parents may allow children reasonable independent activities such as walking to the store, outdoor play and other age-appropriate tasks.

The bill’s sponsor told the committee, “Senate Bill 110 is pretty much a fairly straightforward bill, dealing with Georgia's open ended definition of neglect, and basically just trying to make sure that, the definition is more specific and fair and giving families across the state notice that they're right to let children just do some basic things like walking, running, going to the grocery store, outdoor play, engage in…