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Child Abuse
Problems
Require
By SHERRY JONES . » Capital News Service
RICHMOND — Major legislative, budget and admin' istrative changes aimed at strengthening Virginia’s childprotection system could be on the horizon for the 1996 General Assembly session. ) -As a result of a. recent study involving the case of Valerie Smelser, members of a special subcommittee of the Virginia General Assembly plan to recommend numerous improvements for Virginia’s child-protective services system. **■■■.• ; Miss Smelser was the 12-year-old victim of chronic •abuse whose nude, emaciated body was found last January in a ravine in Clarke County.
Calling the issue a “delicate matter,” Delegate Alan Mayer, D-Fairfax, said he thinks the recommendations are a positive step toward protecting children and the rights of individuals.
‘The trick of this is fixing it with a scalpel, not a sledgehammer,” he said, adding that his subcommittee’s recommendations reflect the suggestions of people who
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