Despite concerns from Republicans about creating more government bureaucracy, Gov. Roy Barnes' bill to create a Child Advocate Office sailed through the House on Monday with a single dissenting vote.

The 171-1 vote sends the bill to the Senate ahead of Wednesday's Day 33 crossover deadline and gives it a good chance of being enacted this session. Bills that have not been approved by at least one chamber by Wednesday are not likely to survive this session.

The bill would give the advocate the authority to investigate how the Division of Family and Children Services handles cases of abuse and neglect. But the advocate would have to get the governor's approval to file suit through the attorney general's office. In some states, the advocate is completely independent.

Rep. Bob Smith (R-Watkinsville), who cast the lone "no" vote, dubbed the advocate's office "a watchdog that watches the watchdog."

"Not a single person in the room is against children," he said. "But creating another level of bureaucracy that will grow and grow and grow and still not get the job done is not the answer."

Several Republican House members disagreed, saying they're willing to take a chance on the new agency if it will stop children from dying of abuse or neglect after such incidents have been reported to the state.

Barnes offered the legislation after a series of articles in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution cited the deaths of hundreds of children after they had become known to the state's child protective services system.

"It's creating a new bureaucracy," said Rep. Jeff Brown (R-LaGrange), who called himself a recent convert to the idea. "But this problem is so large and it's so crucial when we're talking about a child's life, we've got to do something today."

Lawmakers easily defeated amendments that would have required people involved in the investigation of abuse reports to obtain written permission from the parents before a child's medical records could be released. They also rejected attempts to cap the advocate's salary at $80,000 and strip the advocate's power to ask the GBI to probe abuse allegations.