Child advocates still oppose House Bill 202 because they say it makes it harder for the state to intervene to protect abused and neglected children and offer aid to help keep families intact. Under the bill, threatened physical harm no longer merits state intervention, mental harm must rate as mental cruelty, and neglect must be chronic.

Parental rights advocates aren't happy with the "watered-down" bill either, lamenting that it omits an exemption for accidental abuse and higher standards of evidence before a court can remove children from the home or terminate parental rights. But their hopes that something will be done to ensure that accused parents receive a fair trial were revived with Thursday's release of another sweeping reform measure.

A revised version of legislation that last year passed by two-thirds in the House and Senate but was vetoed, House Bill 38 targets the Utah Office of the Guardian ad Litem (GAL), a division of attorneys appointed to represent the best interests of abused and neglected children in juvenile court.

"It's always baby steps. We're making progress," said Sandra Lucas, a lobbyist for the Citizens Commission for Human Rights.

Under the bill, the court could appoint a guardian attorney only after a minor's parents have been notified and given a chance to dispute the action. The measure also gives parents leeway to fight to remove the attorney at any stage of a proceeding, subject to a judge's OK.

"I'm troubled that the GAL is appointed in such automatic and perfunctory fashion with no notice and no due process for the parent," said sponsoring Rep. LaVar Christensen, R-Draper. "The courts can't presume that a parent and child are adversaries."

The measure also repeals law that states, when a family poses a threat to a child, "the state's interest in the child's welfare is paramount to the rights of a parent." And it requires that child welfare workers use the "least restrictive" means when intervening to protect a child, and only when parents pose an "immediate" threat.

Absent from this year's version of the bill is language that would have given "mature" minors more standing to safeguard their own health and well-being. The provision drew a veto from former Republican Gov. Olene Walker, who argued it would have allowed minors to get abortions without parental consent.

Republican legislative leaders declined to revive Christensen's bill at a summer veto-override session.

Yet another of Christensen's child welfare bills passed the House on Thursday. House Bill 89 would remove the presumption of responsibility from parents in cases of abuse or neglect.