The new laws, and increased scrutiny, have caused the state Division of Child and Family Services to seek warrants more often when attempting to remove children believed to be in imminent danger, agency spokeswoman Carol Sisco said.

"I think on our side we're a little bit more cautious, but we're certainly going to go in and do our job and if a child needs to be removed right away, we'll do it," Sisco said.

Still, she stressed, it has always been the goal of DCFS to keep families together whenever possible. "Before the laws and after the laws, in general, we tried to keep children with their families if there's any way we could do it."

For police, balancing parental rights against acting in a child's best interest will remain difficult, with or without legislation.

"I don't disagree with the Legislature because I'm for parental rights, but it's hard to lay down a blanket rule because there's always going to be exceptions. Hopefully those exceptions don't turn up in a tragic situation," McLachlan said.

"In this case, it turned out all right," he said. "Jade got the help that she needed."

---

E-mail: awelling@desnews.com