Franke family members express disappointment on failure of child welfare bill

SALT LAKE CITY — Members of the Franke family, once participants in a popular family YouTube channel, expressed disappointment after a bill they believe would help neglected, isolated and abused children failed to pass the Legislature Thursday evening.

"I am deeply disappointed in my state Legislature for failing to recognize the protection this bill could bring to children across Utah," wrote Shari Franke in a statement.

SB124 would have created a child safety warrant, which would have allowed an officer or caseworker to enter a home to physically see a child if there is a "credible threat" to the child's health or safety.

It would not have given authorization for the child to be removed from the home and would have required the official to have made diligent efforts to check on the child in other ways before obtaining the warrant.

The bill failed with a vote of 43-30.

The Franke family expressed disappointment in SB124's failure

Eve Franke, age 12, gave a written statement about the bill's failure. Eve and and older sister Shari are children of Ruby Franke, a former influencer who was convicted of child abuse and is now in prison.

Ruby Franke was a YouTube content creator and was arrested along with Jodi Hildebrandt, the founder of Connexions Classroom. The two were arrested in August 2023 and later pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse, a second-degree felony, in relation to actions surrounding Franke's two children, ages 9 and 11.

They were arrested after one of Ruby Franke's children ran to a neighbor's home to ask for help.

"I'm doing this again, because the people making laws are being stupid … again," Eve wrote. "Kids are dying and being traumatized left and right because, well I don't know why, and that's the problem, I see no reason with real logic behind it as to why this law shouldn't be in place."

In her statement, Eve also shared her own experience from when she and her brother were isolated, starved and abused. She said that for months, police officers and Division of Child and Family Services workers came to the door of their home multiple times and were never able to come in and actually see the state the kids were in.

"The only reason I survived at all was because my brother was brave enough to take a risk, but clearly the government doesn't have the bravery of a 12-year-old child. They can't even take a risk to protect people," Eve added.

The girl added that if things had continued on much longer, she probably would have died.

"But I was lucky, but not everyone is lucky, so many kids aren't lucky, but with this law they at least have a chance," Eve wrote.

"Also, again, this was my idea, I actually support this law, and I was not told to say any of this, please, I cannot handle another case, so pass this law," Eve concluded.

Those opposed to the bill said it is impeding on parental rights and pointed out there are already laws in place to safeguard children.

"Those laws failed my siblings. I called the police a year before my mother's arrest. I called DCFS. The police did all the right things, DCFS did the right things. But because I had no physical evidence, despite knowledge of Jodi (Hildebrandt) and Ruby's personalities and pasts, my siblings could not be saved before permanent damage had been done," wrote Shari.

Multiple representatives who spoke in opposition of the bill said it would go too far in its guidance. Rep. Stephanie Gricius, R-Eagle Mountain, said she does not believe the bill fixes the issues and emphasized how important parental rights are in Utah.

"In my opinion, this does go too far. I don't think we should be issuing warrants off of allegations, I think these things should come off of evidence. It is absolutely tragic, but I don't believe the mishandling of some cases is enough to open the door on parental rights for everyone else," the representative said.

SB124 is also known as the "Gavin Peterson Bill," named after Gavin Peterson, a northern Utah boy who died in 2024 in a severe child abuse case.

"Gavin was failed by the state, by no fault of DCFS. His guardians exploited loopholes that allowed them to dodge authorities. Why must we wait until children die until we call attention to abuse? The majority of other states allow for investigative warrants, and it's time Utah stepped up," Shari wrote.

Bill sponsor won't give up on the bill

The bill's sponsor, Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, said she is working to see if the bill can be brought back for reconsideration in the House.

"We're known nationally for some of these very high-profile cases of child abuse. We were just trying to bring a solution. We worked very closely with the attorney general's office and with the Department of Health and Human Services, DCFS, and we felt this was the right approach. So hopefully the House will reconsider," Escamilla said.

She acknowledged it won't be easy to get the bill reconsidered, but community members and advocacy groups are reaching out to representatives to get the bill passed.

"This was a gap that we have in our system, and 40 states have this investigatory tool to make sure we can have eyes on kiddos," Escamilla said.

Eve and Shari's father, Kevin Franke, also shared a written statement, expressing his disappointment in the House for failing to pass the bill.

"I was shocked to hear that so much of what was being said about the bill was simply untrue and speculative at best," Kevin Franke wrote, adding that he questioned if everyone had read the final version of the bill.

"If I had to choose between the bruised egos of parents who are worried about misinformed government overreach and an actual child who is isolated and suffering, I will choose the child 10 times out of 10," he continued.

Kevin Franke also pleaded with people to contact their representatives to get the bill passed.

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