Lessons from tragic child abuse case

The case of two small girls in Wichita who may have been tortured, beaten and inhumanely punished over a 10-month period is horrendous. Few of us can understand anyone responsible for their care committing such acts. Yet we are once again reminded that these tragic events occur.

This is precisely why there is a legislatively mandated system for reporting child abuse and neglect and protecting vulnerable children. Did this child protective services system fail these two girls? It appears that it did.

Yet, the job of child protective services workers may be the most difficult there is. Most of us would not be willing to go into many of the homes that child abuse investigators routinely visit. Sometimes they precede the police in entering dangerous situations. A home containing a “meth lab,” for example, is a dangerous place. In addition, investigators have to live with the uncertainty that while a child they interviewed today was safe, tomorrow someone who is dangerous may take up residence in the home.

A press release from the governor’s chief counsel regarding the Wichita case states: “Our investigation has revealed a great deal of concern in Kansas about the effectiveness of our system.” This concern is well justified because now it is not possible to determine whether the mistakes made in this case were rare or common. This is an opportunity for the state Department of Social and Rehabilitative Services to tell the public how it is doing in keeping children safe.

SRS can and should let the community know how well the child protective service system is performing. Yet SRS cannot and should not disclose the particulars of this case. Judge James Burgess ruled that documents about the case cannot be made public because they would reveal too much of the girls’ private lives. This is a correct decision.

Reporting on the results or outcomes of the child protective services system involves telling the public how well decisions are being made. One of the governor’s reforms is to improve the SRS screening protocol. Apparently there have been problems with protective services decision making. Systematic reporting on the effectiveness of these decisions is the heart of public accountability. This sounds complex but can be quite simple. A useful start is to report how often decisions made by protective services workers are correct. This does not disclose confidential information.

Child protective services involve many decisions. For example, the investigation of the Wichita case found that the screening process needed improving. That is, when someone calls to report a suspected case of child abuse or neglect, a decision is made to investigate (“screen in”) or not (“screen out”). Not all calls are legitimate reports of suspected child abuse or neglect.

How often is a call screened out and a subsequent call indicates that the situation should have been investigated? It would not be difficult for SRS to tell us. This type of reporting could be applied to most protective services decisions.

Reporting the accuracy of protective services decisions will not prevent mistakes or tragic events. Some children will still be hurt and while 100 percent accuracy is desired, it is not a feasible goal. However, reporting results can play an important role in building public confidence in the child protective services system.

Child protection workers deserve the respect and appreciation of the community. The community deserves to know how SRS is performing their important task of protecting vulnerable children.