Ridge’s Law: A Giant Step Forward — and the Loopholes Still Putting Georgia Families at Risk

When your small child is sick, fragile, or medically complex, you expect support, guidance, and care. Instead, too many Georgia families face aggressive accusations, rushed conclusions, and a system that often believes a “diagnosis of abuse” long before it looks at science, genetics, or common sense. Often times, the parents of these children are unaware that there has recently been a law passed; a law that is supposed to put parents ahead of these accusations. A law that is supposed to act as a barrier for falsely accused families. The growing number of falsely accused (and vindicated) parents is staggering in Georgia.

That’s why Ridge’s Law (SB 259), signed into law by Governor Brian Kemp on May 12, 2025, matters. It represents progress. It shows that Georgia is finally listening. It is a law named after a baby whose parents were torn apart by a misdiagnosis; a law meant to protect other families from the same nightmare.

But for many families, including my own, it came too late. By the time this law existed, countless parents had already been accused, had faced trials, or had suffered the trauma of wrongful removal. Ridge’s Law enshrines rights that parents should have always had. Protections that should be common sense, not something requiring legislation. And yet, here we are, asking the state, why would this just now need to be a law?

What Ridge’s Law Gets Right

Ridge’s Law brings accountability to a system that has long allowed false claims to go unchecked. Mandatory reporters who knowingly make false allegations can no longer “report and walk away” without consequences. For parents discovering this newfound right, it is a validation of what should have been obvious: you cannot be punished for being innocent.

The law also requires DFCS to conduct independent investigations, ensuring that a child’s fate is no longer dictated by a single doctor’s suspicion. It encourages transparency and fairness in a system that has too often punished parents simply for showing up scared for their newborn baby's health in a hospital. For the first time, families have a foothold, a glimmer of hope, a breath of air in what has too often been a suffocating nightmare.

But hope alone is not enough. Loopholes within this law can still suck the wind out of some parents and leave too much power in the hands who were meant to be held accountable.

The Loopholes That Still Harm Innocent Families

While Ridge’s Law does provide parents with the right to a second medical opinion or pediatric specialty consultation, the reality is that this protection is far from absolute. The law requires that families be informed of their option to seek an independent evaluation, but the evaluations are often at the parents’ own expense, creating a barrier for families who cannot afford specialist care (another reason why Keep Knocking Foundation was created). Even when a second opinion is obtained, there is no guarantee that the child’s initial medical assessment will be delayed, meaning removals and other critical decisions can still proceed before the independent evaluation is even completed.

Child Abuse Pediatricians (CAPs) continue to wield enormous influence, and their assessments can drive DFCS decisions long before alternative explanations such as the possibility of genetic conditions, birth injuries, or metabolic disorders are even considered. CAPs may enter abuse diagnoses into medical charts without oversight, triggering removals and shaping every step of a case, often becoming the single point of reference for all subsequent decisions. That means that DFCS "investigations" or the "investigations" allegedly performed by Law Enforcement, never truly occur. They base their entire casefile on the word of one doctor's assumption. Most may call that confirmation bias. Financial incentives still exist in hospitals, from Title IV-E reimbursements to abuse-team contracts, leaving a pipeline where suspected abuse can generate revenue.

Moreover, the law does not mandate that DFCS consult outside specialists or ensure geographic and financial accessibility for families seeking independent evaluations. Medically fragile children, NICU graduates, and those with rare conditions remain at risk because the system can proceed based on a single perspective, even when parents exercise their right to a second opinion. In practice, Ridge’s Law provides a vital safeguard but without support, accessibility, and structural enforcement, it is still insufficient to fully protect innocent families.

The Law Was Written for Protection — But Families Are Still Falling Through the Cracks

Ridge’s Law is a lifeline, but it is fragile. Medically complex children, NICU babies, twins or multiples, and parents doing everything right are still being destroyed; not by abuse, but by misdiagnosis, tunnel vision, confirmation bias and unchecked authority. Georgia took a bold first step. But the truth is, it came too late for many families who had already endured its failures.

Parents who now gain protections under Ridge’s Law should recognize them as their fundamental right, a shield that should have existed all along. And yet, the question lingers: why would these rights only now need to be written into law?

What Needs to Happen Next

To truly protect innocent families, Ridge’s Law must be strengthened. Families need multidisciplinary evaluations rather than reliance on a single doctor. CAPs must be blocked from making unilateral chart entries that can trigger immediate removals just by claiming the child is in "imminent danger". The law must prevent CAPs from testifying as court-appointed neutral experts because that is the farthest thing from the truth. Transparency around funding, incentives, and hospital contracts is essential. It should be public knowledge. So many civil rights groups, individuals and even attorneys have put in public records requests only to be left on read. DFCS must consider full diagnostic results before removing a child. Second opinions from qualified specialists should be mandated in disputed cases whether they are within the same hospital or a specialist the parent has chosen states away. And above all, medically fragile families must be shielded from being misread as abusive.

These are not minor adjustments. They are necessary reforms that can stop innocent families from becoming statistics. These adjustments can be made by having legislators who truly value the sanctity of family backing each change necessary to save families like mine; to protect your family.

Final Thought

Ridge’s Law began because one baby’s story shook the state awake. Someone in power noticed parents being found innocent. Someone in power did the right thing. Now Georgia must go all the way; fine-tuning this law so no mother, father, or child ever endures what thousands, yes thousands, already have. Families do not need perfect systems. But this system is flawed so badly that it is shattering families, ripping newborns out of their breastfeeding mother's arms and forcing these families to be guilty until proven innocent. We all need systems that are fair, transparent, and, above all, carry some degree of positive morale.

Although abuse does unfortunately happen, not every injury is abuse. Not every scared parent voluntarily bringing their newborn into a pediatrician or emergency room is guilty of an accusation of abuse. Not every doctor is right. I believe there are other loose ends that Georgia can help families tie together. I believe the State of Georgia can do better. And that starts with you. That starts with legislators and those in power taking a stand for families. Together, we can be a catalyst for uplifting change. We can protect the most vulnerable and preserve the most sacred thing -- family.