CAMPBELL COUNTY, Tenn. (WVLT) - It's a local story gaining national attention.

A 19 year-old woman, with severe mental disabilities, dumped by her mother, hundreds of miles from home.

As it stands now, Eva Cameron won't be charged for dumping her daughter. That's because Lynn is over the age of 18, considered old enough to make her own decisions, even though she isn't able to intellectually.

Now, State Representative Dennis Powers is calling for "Lynn's Law." It would be a way to protect the child, and also to make someone accountable for abandoning her.

"A lot of people are interested, and a lot of people can't understand why it's happening," said Powers.

Rep. Powers has gotten calls from across the country, asking what can be done to close what he calls, a loophole.

That a parent can leave their mentally disabled adult child in a foreign state all alone with no consequences.

"Why wouldn't you go to your local authorities? Why wouldn't you go to the state of Illinois and say 'I can't deal with this any longer'? Why would you take her to another state and abandon her where she has no friends, no family, no connections?" asked Powers.

She was abandoned at a Caryville bar two weeks ago, while her mother took off.

"She's only 19, so there's a lot of different things that she did that really show mental abuse," said Powers.

He says Cameron will be taken care of, but he's hoping to get her back to her hometown.

That's why he's proposing "Lynn's Law," a way to protect the disabled if abandoned from another state.

"Because we want to make sure in Tennessee, as much as we love people coming in to our state, we don't want to become a sanctuary state for people to come in and abandon people in this manner," said Powers.

He argues that abandoning Lynn at a bar is "mental abuse," something Lynn's mom, Eva, is not legally accountable for right now.
Powers hopes that a new law can change that and make sure no one goes through this again.

The earliest a new law can happen is when the state legislature meets again, which isn't until next January.

So for now, Lynn Cameron will stay in east Tennessee, and her mother faces no criminal charges.