Senate human services committee hears from the child protection task force

Earlier today the Senate Committee on Health, Human Services and Housing heard from members of the Governor’s Task Force on the Protection of Children (CPS Task force). This hearing was informational only, to prepare committee members for the later hearing on a Senate bill addressing some of the CPS Task Force’s recommendations.

Presentation Overview

Department of Human Services (DHS) Commissioner Lucinda Jesson provided an overview of Minnesota’s child protection system as well as the purpose and goals of the CPS Task Force. She stated that while DHS believes that the county child protection (CPS) system in Minnesota works to protect children, the system also fails too many children, and that a fresh look at both CPS and DHS is needed. She said that the system requires secrecy in order to protect families from reports alleging child maltreatment that are not true, but that this same secrecy also stands in the way of transparency and accountability in the system.

Commissioner Jesson ended her presentation with a discussion on the need to readjust the child protection pendulum and to “start and end with what is best for the child.” She reiterated that a child-first approach focusing on child safety is what is guiding the CPS Task Force’s recommendations, and that DHS will soon be issuing guidance regarding the recommended practice changes.

Three members of the CPS Task Force then presented on their workgroups’ initial recommendations. CPS Task Force recommendations are due by the end of March, and what was presented today were the initial recommendations issued on December 31, 2014. (For an overview of these recommendations, read “Initial Recommendations from the CPS Task Force Now Available Online.”)

Committee Member Concerns

Several of the Senate committee members had questions for the CPS Task Force members. Senator Tony Lourey (D-11) was concerned about the Screening & Transparency workgroup’s recommendation to allow sharing of relevant data with other mandated reporters who did not make the initial report alleging child maltreatment but who have a close relationship with the child involved. Judith Brumfield, Director of Health and Human Services at Scott County, acknowledged that this would be a significant change if it were to occur. Senator Lourey also questioned the recommendation allowing screeners to use collateral information in their decision making. He was concerned that such a process might turn into something unintended if the recommendation wasn’t carefully outlined. Brumfield agreed, stating that this particular recommendation still needed fleshing out, that with “too much fishing” a report could inadvertently begin the assessment process without being screened in.

Senator John Hoffman (D-36) expressed his concern about removing language related to intent to harm a child under the definition of physical abuse. He asked that task force members consider a parent with cognitive difficulties who may not intend harming his or her child, but inadvertently do so. Brumfield explained that this specific recommendation has more to do with screening, not service provision; such a change would allow CPS to screen in such cases and then assess or investigate, rather than potentially missing cases where the intent was hard to determine.

Senator Jeff Hayden (D-62) questioned cross-reporting between law enforcement and child protection. His concern was that someone might want to report potential child maltreatment, but not want law enforcement involved; cross-reporting might deter reporting of possible child maltreatment in such circumstances. He asked that examples be provided showing what would have happened had cross-reporting occurred in a case where it hadn’t. He also requested more data on this subject.

Senator John Marty (D-66) had several questions and concerns that essentially boiled down to whether counties had a financial incentive to assign cases to FA and whether a lack of time and money is influencing counties’ use of FA. He did say that he felt FA was a great thing, but that it should not be used by itself.

Ramsey County Commissioner Toni Carter provided the final presentation. One key point that she made during her presentation was that the FA response is based on research that shows that children and youth do better when CPS has a positive relationship with the family, provides resources to the family, and focuses on family strengths in order to build up the family’s protective capacities. But she cautioned that the pendulum swing “can go pretty far if we don’t watch it.”

The Committee’s Next Steps

During the hearing Senator Kathy Sheran, who chairs the committee, said that a bill addressing these recommendations would be heard in committee “a week from Wednesday” (January 21). However, at the end of the meeting, she said that she may delay action on this bill if the committee wanted to “dig in” more.