Section 19-7-4. Criteria for loss of parental custody

   If a child is found under circumstances of destitution and suffering, abandonment, or exposure or if the child has been begging or if it is found that the child is being reared under immoral, obscene, or indecent influences which are likely to degrade his moral character and devote him to a vicious life and it appears to the appropriate court by competent evidence, including such examination of the child as may be practicable, that by reason of the neglect, habitual drunkenness, lewd or other vicious habits, or other behavior of the parents or guardians of the child, it is necessary for the welfare of the child to protect the child from such conditions, the court may order that the parents or guardians be deprived of custody of the child and that appropriate measures as provided by law be taken for the welfare of the child.

Orig. Code 1863, § 1746; Code 1868, § 1786; Code 1873, § 1795; Ga. L. 1878-79, p. 162, § 1; Code 1882, §§ 1795, 4612g; Civil Code 1895, §§ 2504, 2505; Civil Code 1910, §§ 3023, 3024; Code 1933, §§ 74-109, 74-110.