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Child advocate: Supreme Court reverses decisions that endangered children

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The state Supreme Court has issued rulings in two cases that advocates worried could have halted some child abuse investigations and caused names to be taken off the child abuse registry.

In two cases, lower courts had ruled in favor of plaintiffs who said the state Children’s Division didn’t complete an investigation within a 90-day statutory deadline. One plaintiff argued that meant the Division lost jurisdiction in her case. Another argued that it meant her name should not be on the child abuse and neglect registry.

The Supreme Court reversed both lower court rulings and sent the cases back to those courts.

Missouri Kidsfirst Deputy Director Emily van Schenkhof says the Supreme Court’s decisions favor Missouri’s children.

“It said that the lower courts had erred because they had put the interests of the alleged perpetrators above the interests of the victims of child abuse and neglect, and the statute was intended to protect the interests of children,” says van Schenkhof.

Van Schenkhof says in the ruling regarding the abuse registry, if the Supreme Court had upheld the lower court decision, anyone who had been placed on the registry after the 90-day deadline had been exceeded could have sued the state to have his or her name removed.

“Anyone who wants to be employed in working with children or other vulnerable persons, employers must check the registry to make sure that (the potential employee) is not on that,” says van Schenkhof, “So these individuals can’t work in our schools and our daycares and our nursing homes.

The Court ruled that the legislature can impose a deadline, but that courts can not impose a sanction – such as the loss of jurisdiction or removal from the registry – if the legislature doesn’t specify one.

Children’s Division Director responds to proposed funding increase

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The Senate Budget Committee Chairman has said he will be watching for results from the Children’s Division within the Department of Social Services for improvements in its handling of child abuse cases. That comes as the legislature and Governor Jay Nixon (D) both recommended $5.1-million additional dollars for the Division, intended to help it lower the turnover rate among abuse investigators and to help reduce a backlog of abuse reports.

The Division Director, Tim Decker, says it is ready for additional scrutiny.

“We expect results of ourselves,” says Decker. “We want to see enhanced well being for the children we serve. We want to be sure they’re getting their healthcare needs met. We want to be sure that they’re having the same opportunities that we want for our own children; to go to college, to pursue a career, to have those lifelong supports they’re going to need.”

See an earlier story on the additional $5.1-million for the Children’s Division

“Ultimately the way you measure results in the child welfare system is whether children are safe, whether children in the system are reunifying with their families or moving on to another permanent placement,” says Decker, “Because all children need a loving family that’s going to be with them for the duration.”

Decker believes the additional money will make a difference.

“These investments will actually strengthen our workforce,” says Decker. “They will prepare people for the work, for the difficulty of the work, and they’ll really build a career pathway so that some of our best staff can remain on the front lines working with the children and families.”

The proposed increases for the Children’s Division are included in the Fiscal Year 2015 budget proposal approved by the legislature last week.  Governor Nixon still must act on that budget.

Click here to listen to an interview with Tim Decker

Budget agreement includes $5.1-million boost for state Children’s Division

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The House-Senate budget conference committee has adopted most of the additional money for the Children’s Division within the Missouri Department of Social Services that had been proposed by Governor Jay Nixon (D) and the House. The Senate had removed the nearly $6-million increase over concerns the money would go to pay increases for undeserving employees and technology upgrades that would not succeed in addressing issues facing the Division.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kurt Schaefer (left) and House Budget Committee Chairman Rick Stream preside over the budget conference committee.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kurt Schaefer (left) and House Budget Committee Chairman Rick Stream preside over the budget conference committee.

The money was aimed at offering incentives to recruit and retain child abuse investigators and reduce among them a high turnover rate, and to help them whittle down a high caseload and respond faster to reports of abuse.

More than $2.2-million was proposed to create a career ladder in the Children’s Division to offer better pay and responsibility to investigators who earned them. More than $1.5-million was proposed to provide investigators with tablets and internet connectivity so they could more quickly deal with reports. $347,000 was proposed for secondary trauma and child abuse training and $955,704 was proposed to give a 2-3% increase in salary to investigators, beyond a 1% across-the-board salary increase already included in the budget.

The conference committee did not include $828,000 to forgive student loans to investigators in circuits that have seen a high rate of turnover.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kurt Schaefer (R-Columbia) had been a vocal critic of the proposals when his committee removed them from the budget. He was concerned about offering a larger pay increase to those investigators than other state employees would receive, given the highly publicized issues that division has had completing investigations.

Schaefer says his opinion changed after meeting with the Division’s Director, Tim Decker.

“He gave me a personal assurance,” says Schaefer, “That he would direct those increases towards those employees that truly arr meritorious and doing a great job for the State of Missouri, and he would not give those increases to people that did not deserve it or were not doing a good job.”

Schaefer says he was impressed with Decker.

“He’s got a lot of ideas and I’m hoping that he can carry those forward and that what we did, we can help him carry that forward, and he can get some changes in that division.”

Schaefer says he will be watching for improvements in the Division’s performance when handling abuse reports.

The legislature must get its budget proposal to Governor Nixon by the close of business Friday.

Advocates seek more time for at least some child abuse investigations (AUDIO)

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The state House has passed a bill that would extend from 30 days to 30 business days the length of time investigators with the state Children’s Division have to conduct an investigation into child abuse allegations.

Supporters, including the bill’s sponsor Representative Bill Lant (R-Pineville), say the legislation is a positive step, but perhaps not the final solution to the problem they hope to address.

The issue was raised by two cases now awaiting a ruling by the Missouri Supreme Court filed by two women who say they weren’t told a statutory deadline the outcomes of investigations into abuse allegations against them.

See our earlier story on those cases

Caseworkers have 30 days to investigate allegations and 90 days to tell the accused what they find.

Deputy Director of Missouri Kids First Emily Van Schenkhof says she and other child advocates would like to get away from arbitrary timeframes, but she understands the legislature put them in place for a reason.

“The General Assembly is not interested in giving Children’s Division a carte blanche to say, ‘You can conclude these investigations whenever you’d like to,'” says Van Schenkhof, “because we know that’s also not in children’s best interest.”

She says there is an effort to strike a balance between the two extremes.

“We’re looking to perhaps create … a very narrowly taylored good cause exception for these timeframes,” Van Schenkhof tells Missourinet.

She thinks those involved in the discussion are close to arriving at a compromise. She hopes it will be ready before the issue comes up in a Senate committee.

Hear the interview with Emily Van Schenkhof:

Efficiency Committee questions state handling of child abuse cases

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A House Committee on government efficiency is looking into how the Department of Social Services handles child abuse cases.

The House Interim Committee on Improving Government Responsiveness and Efficiency begins a two-day hearing at the Capitol. (Photos courtesy: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

The House Interim Committee on Improving Government Responsiveness and Efficiency begins a two-day hearing at the Capitol. (Photos courtesy: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

The Interm Committee on Improving Government Responsiveness and Efficiency heard from Springfield law enforcement officer Tim Bruce, who says he has been trying for years to get the Division of Family Services to investigate claims three of his grandchildren are being sexually abused.

“It was not confirmed through an investigation and through a CAC interview that my oldest grandson was, in fact, sexually molested. All of this while DFS had continually told me that there was no concern, there were no issues, and the mother to this day still has those children in her care.”

Acting Department of Social Services Director Brian Kinkade says his agency’s top priority is child safety. He says it responds to 50-60 thousand abuse hotline calls a year.

“I would contend that in the vast majority of those cases, our division, the law enforcement, our doctors, our juvenile courts are taking the actions to keep our children safe.”

Several lawmakers expressed concern at Bruce’s story and Kinkade later met with him privately.

Chairwoman Sue Allen (R-Town and Country) also expressed interest in how the Department handles information on abuse cases.

The case of 4-year-old Lucas Webb of Holt gained attention when the Department refused to release information to the Kansas City Star for months. Allen asked Kinkade about the handling of that situation.

Kinkade tells her, “We are always concerned about taking an action that would jeopardize the prosecution of someone who has hurt or murdered a child, so our immediate action is always going to exercise extreme caution because if we were to do something to release information that would somehow jeopardize a situation like that, then you can’t pull that back, you can’t correct it, you can’t fix it.”

The Committee is also discussing eligibility for food stamps and temporary benefits for needy families. Its hearing continues today.

Proposal would lift statute of limitations on child sexual abuse

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A proposal in the House would lift the statutes of limitations on civil and criminal actions in cases of child abuse and child sexual abuse.

Representative Brandon Ellington (photo courtesy; Missouri House Communications)

Representative Brandon Ellington (photo courtesy; Missouri House Communications)

Missouri law has a 10-year statute of limitations on actions for damage or personal injury caused by child sexual abuse and allows prosecution of sex crimes against people up to age 18 only up to 30 years after that person turns 18.

Representative Brandon Ellington’s (D-Kansas City) proposal, HB 247, would change that.

“By removing the statute of limitations we’re not guaranteeing conviction. The only thing that we’re doing is allowing people to go back and prosecute or face their abuser.”

Ellington says typically, a victim waits until after the statute of limitations is up before they are ready to admit that he or she has been abused.

Human Rights worker Alvin Sykes says this was the case for him. He says he was sexually abused when he was 11 but didn’t tell anyone for 16 years.

“I didn’t know what to do. I knew I couldn’t go back and tell mama because she told me to stay away from these people in the first place … I didn’t think about the police because I thought they were too far away.”

Missouri Kids First Child Deputy Director Emily Van Schenkhof tells a House Committee, child sex abuse crimes are the least likely to be reported, and most likely to be reported long after they occur, of all the crimes in Missouri’s criminal code.

“We estimate that probably only around 25% of child sex crimes, if that, are ever reported to the authorities. In my time in doing this work I have spoken to probably more than 100 victims of child sexual abuse and when most of them end their story, they end by saying “I have never told anyone.”

Van Schenkhof says a common concern about lifting the statute is that there could be an influx of accusations. She reminds lawmakers that due process provisions will still be in place to protect the accused.

She says the situations most likely to be affected would be the most egregious ones, “Where there was a serial predator and multiple victims. Those would probably be the only type of cases where the changes to the statute of limitations, particularly on the criminal side, would come into play.”

The legislation would also specify that prosecutions for child abuse can begin at any time.

No vote has been taken yet on the proposal.

Joint committee on child abuse and neglect holds first meeting

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A joint House-Senate committee that will look at how agencies at all levels in the state handle cases of child abuse and neglect has held its first hearing. The body has decided to split into several subcommittees that will each study a set of issues related to such cases.

Representative Bill Lant (R-Joplin, left) is the vice chairman of the Joint Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect and Senator Kurt Schaefer (R-Columbia) is the chairman.

Its chairman, Senator Kurt Schaefer (R-Columbia), says that means looking more at the court system, law enforcement, the foster system and more.

“It is a very large universe of things to pull together to see if all parts are working together.”

He says the work will be much like that of an oversight committee, to make sure that state resources and money are being used properly and with the best possible results, “To make sure that kids are, in fact, being protected with the programs that are put in place to do just that.”

The topics the Committee discussed dividing between subcommittees were the handling of abuse and neglect reports, the staffing, handling and policies of children’s services, the technology used by related agencies, the foster care system and the removal of a child from a home.

First meeting of legislative committee on child abuse and neglect is Monday

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Representative Bill Lant (R-Joplin) Photo courtesy: Missouri House Communications.

A House-Senate committee on child neglect and abuse will hold its first hearing on Monday.

Representative Bill Lant (R-Joplin) sponsored the legislation that created the Joint Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect when it was passed as part of another bill. He will be the vice-chairman of the Committee, under Senator Kurt Schaefer. Lant says he’s excited to get to work.

“The statistics that were brought to my attention over a year ago are that one in four children in the state of Missouri are either physically or sexually abused before they’re fourteen years old, and I find that to be totally unacceptable. We can do much better than that.”

Lant wants to see the committee begin its work by looking at the system for reporting child abuse and neglect.

“Take a look at the reporting system, see if it’s doing what it’s designed to do and if it’s doing it in the best way possible. If so, move on to the next problem and if not, take steps to improve it.”

Lant says he has received literally hundreds of phone calls about the committee from interested parties all over the state.

“It’s not any one particular thing that people are concerned about. It’s just the entire system. That’s what I felt when I first started investigating a little bit … that we really needed to look at the whole system and figure out what was the best thing to do and what was the best time to do it. So I’m really anxious to see us get started on that process.”

The committee’s Chairman is Senator Kurt Schaefer (R-Columbia).

Father of priest abuse victim calls for more victims to come forward

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The parents of a Virginia man who recently went public with information that he was the victim in a $600,000 pedophile priest cover up case are urging other victims to come forward.

L-R: Don Asbee (SNAP), Mary McAllister, David Clohessy (SNAP), Steve McAllister Doctor Mark McAllister came forward to say that he, while a resident of Boonville, was molested by a Father Gerry Howard, who changed his name from Father Carmine Sita after being convicted of criminal activity in New Jersey and ended up in Missouri.

Steve McAllister, the father of the victim, urges others who might have been molested by this priest to report the crimes.

“We strongly would urge any other victims of Howard that have not made their abuse public to do so to the proper authorities,” said Steve McAllister during a sidewalk news conference outside the Jefferson City Diocesan Headquarters.

The McAllister family has been working with David Clohessy, Executive Director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), hoping for more openness from the Catholic Church.

“We are terribly worried that Father Howard may literally be molesting a kid as we speak,” said Clohessy, himself a victim of priest abuse.

Steve McAllister believes the Church was complicit in hiding the priest and his deeds.

“I suspect, and I really have no basis for saying this, but I suspect Gerry Howard was not the only such priest that was moved around in this fashion,” said McAllister.

He would like to see the Catholic Church come clean.

“Looking at the sacrament of confession within the Catholic Church, where us mortals are encouraged to come in and tell our tales of misdeeds and so on to a priest and receive absolution, could, I think, very advisedly, be turned around so that the Church, itself, in these cases, goes to confession.”

That, he says, could be done by having the Catholic Church open up its archives regarding sexual abuse by priests.

Download/Listen: Steve Walsh report (:60 MP3)
SNAP Jefferson City news conference (38:00 MP3)

Kids Count report: child abuse down, high school dropouts up

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The annual KidsCount report is out. It provides county-by-county data on the health and wellbeing of Missouri’schildren.

While child abuseand neglect cases in Missouriare down from last year, high school dropout rates are higher.

The Kids Countreport compares information and statistical trends on the conditions of ourstate’s children and families in all 114 counties and the City of Saint Louis.

St. Charles County,just outside of St. Louis,did the best this year. Not the case just a few miles away. St. Louis City scored lowest "across the board," says Scott Gee, director of Citizens for Missouri’sChildren. He says the areas that ranked the lowest are also the state’spoorest.

However, St. Louis did improve its numbers in all categories — save high school dropout rates — over last year.

The report breaksdown the rates for infant mortality, low birth weight, teen pregnancy, students on free or reduced lunches, babies born to mothers without a high school diploma, child deaths, children removed from homes, and violent deaths to teens.

The study also provides a breakout for various economic factors, demographics, family support systems, health and mental health.

For example, St. Louis had 1,226 high school dropouts, or 11.6 percent. St. Charles County had 449 dropouts, or 2.8 percent.

The report states that every day in Missouri:
18 babies are born with a low birth weight
41 children are born to mothers who lack high school diplomas
2 babies die before their ?rst birthday
15 children are removed from their homes
127 children receive attention from the Mo. Department of Social Services
   due to reports of child abuse and neglect
1 child or teen dies
29 teens drop out of school
25 teens between the ages of 15 and 19 give birth
212,369 children live in poverty

Gee says the reportserves local and state policymakers, as well as not-for-profits at the locallevel in identifying needs and boosting certain programs.

To see how your county ranks and individual breakdowns, visit the Citizens for Missouri’s Children Web site.

 

Jessica Machetta reports [Download/listen MP3]