NC lawmakers debate next steps for Christal's Law

A new bill that would give the state more oversight of county child abuse investigations is one step closer to becoming North Carolina law.

Christal’s Law comes after WRAL Investigates found an 8-year-old Nash County girl was allegedly beaten to death by her grandmother weeks after Social Services had been notified she was possibly being abused.

Senate Bill 625 was favorably referred upward from the NC Senate Healthcare committee on April 19.

It’s an omnibus bill that would change a number of juvenile laws. Section 16 is called "Christal's Law."

The bill would give the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services more oversight of county investigations into child welfare cases.

The section was named for Christal Lane, who was killed in February.

The Nash County Sheriff's Office said Lane was beaten to death by her grandmother, Patricia Ricks, who has been charged with Lane's murder.

A WRAL News investigation found that nearly two months before her death, Lane's school filed a report with Nash DSS that Lane was possibly being abused.

Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone told WRAL News that at a meeting with Social Services in January, his deputies told Nash DSS to remove the girl and her siblings from Ricks' custody.

Nash DSS didn't remove the children from the home. Lane died on Feb. 7.

After WRAL's reporting, the state opened an investigation into Nash DSS.

On March 17, DHHS released a report finding that the county mishandled the abuse case of Christal Lane.

The state also found that across 23 other abuse cases, Nash DSS only followed proper case supervision procedures 39% of the time.

NC DHHS gave Nash DSS until April 16 to file a corrective action plan to fix the issues identified within the department. If the plan wasn't sent by the deadline, the state said it could cut Nash DSS's funding or possibly take over the department.

WRAL News reached out to DHHS to ask if the county's corrective action plan was sent on time.

“Nash County submitted their Corrective Action Plan for approval on April 6, 2023,” a DHHS spokesperson responded. “NCDHHS-DSS is in the process of reviewing and providing feedback on the plan and expects to respond to Nash County by April 21, 2023.”

WRAL News also reached out to Nash DSS to request a copy of the action plan sent to the state. The agency has not responded at this time.

SB 625 moves to two more committees for discussion.