Missourinet

Your source for Missouri News and Sports

You are here: Home / Archives for Missouri Kids First

Child advocate: Supreme Court reverses decisions that endangered children

By

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.

Child abuse issues to receive attention during legislative interim

By

A children’s advocacy group and at least one state lawmaker say the 2014 legislative session has been a positive one for fighting child abuse, but they expect more work in the interim.

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

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

Awaiting action by Governor Jay Nixon (D) is a bill that would allow more time for the state Children’s Division to investigate reports of child abuse and allow for a review of differences in investigation processes. The legislature’s proposed budget also keeps Nixon’s proposal for additional money for that division to improve its efficiency and results.

Missouri Kids First Deputy Director Emily van Schenkhof says it was a good legislative session.

“When you identify any problem, sometimes you’ve just gotta do something,” says van Schenkhof. “You’ve got to try to make some changes and we’re going to be constantly adjusting those changes and asking for more and doing better, so this is really just the first step.”

The Joint Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect will hold a hearing tomorrow in the State Capitol.  Its vice-chairman, Representative Bill Lant (R-Pineville), expects hearings this summer to look at the Division’s career ladder for investigators, which was the target of a proposed 2.2-million dollar budget increase.

“What we’re wanting to look at is to see whether the money is going where it’s needed the most,” says Lant. “Or if we need additional allocations.”

Lant also anticipates the committee to spend time considering how investigators are trained, which was also a target for additional money in the proposed budget. Van Schenkhof says there are many questions there.

“What additional training do they need? What does high-quality training look like?” says van Schenkhof, who hopes for a collaborative discussion including state lawmakers, staff from the Children’s Division and others who deal with child abuse issues as a training program is designed.

Two years have expired among the six that were allotted to that joint committee. When Lant talks about the work that is yet to come, it is clear he expects to need more than the remaining four years.

“This needs to be a standing committee,” says Lant. “As far as oversight and investigation we need to complete as much as we can by the end of this next four years.”

Child advocacy group pleased with criminal code passage (VIDEO)

By

Child advocates say there are changes made in the proposed rewrite of Missouri’s criminal code that are good for children.

Deputy Director of Missouri Kids First Emily van Schenkhof was involved closely in the development of the legislation. She says one of the significant changes it makes is to add incest as an aggravating factor to increase penalties on sentences for sex crimes.

“We see [incest] in about two-thirds of the cases that go through child advocacy centers … that the child is related to the person that is harming them,” says van Schenkhof. “We believe that this will be something that will allow us to increase penalties for a lot of folks that harm children.”

The bill would also eliminate a misdemeanor class of child molestation, so that the crime at all levels is now a felony.

“This allows … a little bit more variation in the charge and the penalty that the person will face,” says van Schenkhof. “We think we will get more “C” felonies, more “E” felonies.”

She says it also gives juries more options in sentencing, “which we think will ultimately benefit children in having stiffer penalties for people who hurt children.”

Van Schenkhof says also important is that there are no proposed reductions in penalties for child abuse crimes or changes in definitions that would impact prosecution of those cases.

The criminal code legislation (SB 491) is awaiting action by Governor Jay Nixon (D).

Watch Emily van Schenkhof talk more about the criminal code bill and the proposed budget below:

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

By

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:

Legislation would give child welfare workers more time to investigate abuse claims

By

The state Supreme Court has heard arguments on two cases that could result in pending child abuse investigations being thrown out, and the removal of names from the state’s child abuse and neglect registry.

Two women filed lawsuits saying child welfare workers didn’t notify them within 90 days of initial abuse and neglect reports made against them, of the conclusions of investigations into those reports. State law allows 30 days for such allegations to be investigated and 90 days for the accused to be motified of the case worker’s finding.

Representative Bill Lant has filed a bill that would give those workers 30 business days to complete investigations. He says that would be a good starting point, the details of which could evolve during the legislative session.

“It adds nearly 30 percent to the total amount of time they have when you think about the four weekend days that month of time … in most cases it’s going to let them complete that job.”

Lant has filed the annual report on the findings of the Joint Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect. Of the findings in that report, he says he wants to focus this year on improving training and support for child welfare investigators. He thinks that will help them reduce caseloads and thereby diminish the number of cases that go beyond the statutory timelines.

See our earlier story on this subject.

Advocates worry state Supreme Court ruling could end many abuse investigations

By

Child welfare advocates are worried about how the state Supreme Court will rule on two cases related to the time it takes to investigate reports of child abuse and neglect.

Two lower courts have agreed with two women who say child welfare investigators didn’t tell them by the statutory deadline the outcome of investigations that led to their names being put on the registry of child abuse and neglect. Caseworkers have 30 days to investigate allegations and 90 days to tell the accused what they find.

Missouri Kids First Deputy Director Emily Van Schenkhof says the cases before the Supreme Court could be causing investigators to be told to rush cases.

“Saying that (caseworkers) have to have a letter out to the person … that you have to have this case decided in a certain timeframe … it’s just not possible in all cases,” says Van Schenkhof. “We’re forcing people to make decisions when they don’t have all of the facts and we want people to have quality investigations, not just simply, ‘We’ve got to meet this timeframe and if we don’t, we lose jurisdiction.'”

She worries that cases older than 90 days will be dropped.

“So where does this leave these children?” asks Van Schenkhof. “We’re dropping these children and a lot of times in very complex cases. Law enforcement doesn’t have these sort of artificial timeframes.”

The Court heard arguments in those cases December 3. Decisions could come at any time.

Representative Bill Lant (R-Pineville) has filed a bill that would allow 30 business days for investigations.