The Michigan Senate introduced a bill aimed at better identifying students who are not attending school after three children were found abandoned in Pontiac earlier this year.

Kelli Bryant is due back in court later this month after investigators say she allegedly abandoned her children between 2020 and 2021. The children were found in February 2025 after a landlord called authorities for unpaid rent. Bryant is charged with three counts of child abuse. She was also charged with welfare fraud related to getting money from the state as support payments, where she allegedly received roughly $30,000. 

Authorities say Bryant's children were enrolled in school, and then school officials were informed that they would be transferring. However, that did not happen. 

Under Senate Bill 492, schools where students are initially enrolled will be required to verify the transfer with the other school before releasing transcripts.

"We don't want any other child to fall through this crack and be lost in the system," Michigan Sen. Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield) said, introducing the bill to the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday. "Under current law, it is possible, and it has happened, that a student could be disenrolled from a school before they have been enrolled in another school."

Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald and Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard spoke in favor of SB 492. Bouchard recounts the deplorable conditions the three children were in when they were found. The sheriff's office says responding deputies found the home to be in vile shape, seeing mold, human waste and garbage.

"This one rises to the top on so many levels. You have children basically abandoned for years in a situation that was untenable," Bouchard said.

The bill will move to a vote in the Senate before it makes it to the House.