From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MCT)
The emergency room diagnosis of the toddler’s fracture fell into that unsettling gray area where nobody was able to sufficiently prove whether it was caused by an accident or child abuse.
In the end, investigators with Missouri’s Children’s Division argued the type of break was a sign of abuse, but they had no evidence tying it to a particular parent, who both said the baby fell out of the father’s arms after he fell asleep in a chair.
For the parents, the abuse finding triggered a legal battle that cost them more than $15,000 to clear their names from state child abuse and neglect records.
The story was just one of dozens told to state legislators on the new Joint Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect as it hosted “listening posts” around the state to hear about people’s experiences with the state’s Children’s Division.
In many cases, they were cautionary tales of child protection causing more harm than good, with complex procedures, impossible benchmarks to reunify families and child abuse complaints that went nowhere.
“The issue here, I guess if there is one, if you’re not a person of means, you can’t participate in fighting the system because you can’t afford an attorney and you can’t get anywhere,” said state Rep. Jeanne Kirkton, D-Webster Groves, a member of the joint committee. She learned of the incident with the toddler when she held a listening post last week at the Webster Groves Library.
The listening tour is part of what is becoming the most intense legislative examination of the state’s child protection system since 2002, when a child death triggered an overhaul of a host of laws.
Critics say the state has backtracked in the years since — both in its effort to maintain national accreditation and to reduce the number of children in foster care. The state’s foster care rolls have increased to about 11,117 children at the end of January, up from 9,376 in May 2009.
The new joint committee was established by law in 2012 at the urging of state Rep. Bill Lant, R-Pineville, the committee’s vice chairman.
Lant’s district sits in the southwest corner of the state. The area was roiled by the murder and rape of Rowan Ford, 9, in 2007. The perpetrator was aided by Rowan’s stepfather. Critics say the Children’s Division missed warning signs by not thoroughly following up on prior hotline calls made by school officials regarding potential neglect.
Over the past year, the joint committee has heard from people working in various parts of the system — everyone from juvenile officers in the family court who handle both child placement and foster care cases, to state department heads.
“Many were complaining they felt like they had been pushed around by the (Children’s) division, bullied or mistreated,” Lant said of the families who spoke with him. “I think it is something that we need to note — that this is the way people are feeling.”
Today, Rep. Rory Ellinger, a University City Democrat who sits on the joint committee, will hold his own listening post at 5:30 p.m. at Heman Park Community Center in University City.
The committee is doing its work during a period of transition in the Children’s Division. Candace Shively, director of the Division, retired unexpectedly this month amid an effort to renew national accreditation with the Council on Accreditation?.
Accreditation standards seek, among other things, to ensure that Missouri has enough caseworkers to adequately follow up on reports of abuse and to ensure that foster children are safe.
Yet, news reports from the western part of the state point to a child protection system in Jackson County that is struggling under high caseloads, rampant employee turnover and poor training of rookie caseworkers.
Lant said the joint committee is aware of the issues — particularly low morale and turnover in the Children’s Division, which is approaching 50 percent annually statewide.
Kirkton said the Legislature’s constant cutting of programs and resources in the Department of Social Services is hurting the system. “Is that going to threaten the accreditation? I would certainly think that would play a big role,” she said.
Lant, however, believes the funding is sufficient. But after hearing eight rounds of testimony to the committee, he said the system is not fully protecting children.
He said the state has a top-rated child abuse and neglect phone hotline system. But the system breaks down once the call is made from the hotline to local Children’s Division employees.
He sees little standardization of investigations and removals of children from family from county to county. Training for new Children’s Division employees has plummeted from standards set a decade ago, when the child protection system was drastically overhauled.
That restructuring — and the law requiring accreditation — came after the 2002 death of Dominic James, 2, by an abusive foster parent in a Springfield foster home.
The current joint legislative committee will release an annual report in January. Lant does not expect that initial report to suggest any major revisions or laws because this year has been dedicated to fact-finding. But he said future reports will likely be more pointed. The committee will remain active until 2018.
Last week, Kirkton heard a variety of issues from an attorney, a private caseworker, a child advocate and a parent who came to the listening post. One said children in foster care weren’t always getting capable and effective court advocates. Another said the Children’s Division has lost so many attorneys to turnover, that adoptions and other court matters were moving too slow.
Kirkton tied many of the issues to inadequate funding.
“These people are given a job to do and we need to give them the tools they need to do it well and right, and we’re not doing it,” she said. “We can say we care about kids until the cows come home, but actions speak louder than words.”
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©2013 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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