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New Texas law aims to protect parents wrongly accused of child abuse


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SAN ANTONIO - A new state law will soon take effect that forces taking a closer look at cases of alleged child abuse.

The new law requires further review for child welfare workers and family courts before removing children from a home by allowing caregivers accused of abuse to request a second medical opinion. A judge would then consider information gathered from both medical reports before issuing state custody orders.

The legislation follows multiple NBC investigations of parents who were accused of abuse based on mistaken reports by doctors. State Rep. James Frank says the goal is to prevent CPS from taking children from parents based on flawed or incomplete medical reports.

The new law also creates a state commission to study how children are determined to be the victims of abuse.

The law was signed by Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday and goes into effect September 1.

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