One of the first bills to be filed for the legislative session in January will be one changing some things in the state’s child welfare system. Senator Patrick Dougherty of St. Louis wants to establish an indepedent ombudsman to handle complaints about the system, and he wants to set up an independent citizens review committee, providing another forum for citizen complaints. His plan grows out of recommendations made by an investigation into the death of a two-year-old Springfield boy who died while in foster care. The boy’s foster father is charged with murder.
