Jane O. Hansen has crusaded in the Journal-Constitution for more than a decade to reform Georgia's child welfare procedures. Now her work is beginning to bear fruit.

Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes signed a law automatically making open the files of any child who dies and ever has been the subject of a child abuse investigation. It also creates a Georgia child ombudsman office.

Another law that Barnes signed in May 2000 permits doctors to take custody of abused or neglected children.

Oct. 17, 1999

At his request, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has opened criminal inquiries into the deaths of 13 children.

Meanwhile, the commissioner of the state Department of Human Resources acknowledged that her agency failed to save Terrell Peterson, a 5-year-old child who was the focus of a 1999 series by Hansen.

Some 171 state employees have been transferred and are being retrained for child protection work.

"I think that all of us as journalists have a responsibility to act as watchdogs, particularly for those in our midst who may lack a voice," Hansen said.

"I think it will be a long time in our history before we can safely say children have the rights they deserve."

She and her husband, Dr. Richard D. Hansen, an internist, have three sons, Adam, 14; Ben, 13; and Sam, 10.

A former Carter White House official and a graduate of the Columbia University School of Journalism, Hansen is an intense and widely admired figure in Atlanta public life.

Away from the newsroom, what's her life like?

"When I'm not trying to survive raising three sons and tending to three cats, two dogs and a tortoise, I chair a committee at my church," she said.