Mother fights for state child abuser registry in Michigan

A Macomb County woman continues her crusade to create a child abuse registry in Michigan before her child's attacker gets out of prison.

Erica Hammel is a mother from St. Clair Shores on a mission.

"These are people convicted in a court of law and I'm sorry, we have to have a no tolerance policy when it comes to children," she said.

If she sounds impassioned, it is because it’s personal.

"I constantly live with the thought of what would my child be like, if he wasn't abused," she said.

Her son Wyatt is 3 years old and has come a long way since FOX 2 first met him more than a year ago.

"He has had six surgeries in the past two years and just had an eye surgery in January," Hammel said.

His struggles after being abused by another woman led Hammel to create Wyatt's Law.  It is a package of bills designed to prevent child abuse.

While Wyatt's progress has been remarkable, the progress with the law has stalled.

The bills have been waiting to get a hearing in Lansing since October. Bills that would create a child abuse registry.

"It's just another piece of information that I believe everyone has a right to know," she said.

If passed it would be similar to the sex offender registry - instant access to know if a person caring for your child has been convicted of child abuse.

"He was defenseless at 1 year old when he was shaken," Hammel said.

Each day that passed is greeted with worry for Hammel - concern that Rachel Edwards, the woman convicted for Wyatt's abuse will be let out of prison.

Edwards will be up for parole in one year. If that happens before Wyatt's Law is in effect, then the person in whom this law was created won't even be on the registry.

"It scares me to death," Hammel said. "This should have existed when I was going through my divorce. If I had this information I could have prevented it from happening to Wyatt."

Wyatt's Law has built quite the following and they hope to have their voice heard as they march on the State Capitol on April 14th.

If you want to help her cause, you are asked to call your local lawmaker and indicate your support for Wyatt's Law.