A committee of lawmakers investigating the state’s child protection system has prepared an informal list of recommendations that will be crafted into a bill to be introduced next session.
The committee met Tuesday for the final time before the start of the new biennium in January.
The group formed following the death in February of Poultney 2-year-old Dezirae Sheldon. The lawmakers have heard testimony from social workers, parents, teachers, police and others about the system’s failures.
The group Tuesday also discussed a report issued last week by a citizens advisory board that criticized the department for failing to adopt adequate policies and failing to follow existing policies.
In addition to the 12 recommendations put on paper Tuesday, the committee also plans to include language in the bill to clarify or change state policy on reunifying children with their parents.
There is a push at the state and federal level to reunify children when it may not be safe or in a child’s best interest. DCF officials have said their reunification decisions are based on ensuring that a child’s welfare is protected. The change lawmakers want is not yet clear.
Lawmakers are also evaluating whether DCF needs more resources. That debate is taking place against the backdrop of a $100 million budget gap in fiscal year 2016.
“We can change all the laws we want but if we don’t give adequate resources then it doesn’t happen,” said Sen. Ann Cummings, D-Washington, a member of the child protection committee.
Among the initiatives the committee hopes to incorporate in the legislation:
• Require that all child abuse cases involving sexual abuse or physical abuse resulting in serious bodily injury be referred to, and investigated by special teams of law enforcement that are trained to investigate incidents with children;
• Establish a DCF oversight committee and an advocate or ombudsman’s office that would function independently from DCF;
• Broaden the definition of “harm” in 33 V.S.A. Sec. 4912 to include exposing a child under 14 years old to illegal substances;
• Create enforceable post-adoption contact agreements limited to children within state custody;
• Recommend that judges take guardian ad litem opinions into consideration;
• Ask DCF to develop policies for elevated observation and protection of a child returned home when other children have been removed;
• Create a new crime for failure to prevent harm to a child;
• Establish a pilot project in two counties allowing courts to use case managers in CHINS cases;
• Allow DCF workers to remove a child on an emergency basis and to do the affidavit and paperwork in support of an emergency care order;
• Expand the “cone of confidentiality” to include every service provider who works with a child, including treatment providers and educators, as well as law enforcement and DCF workers;
• Allow all entities that administer drug tests to share the results with DCF, and authorize DCF to require test results;
• Allow DCF, and potentially courts, to monitor a family for a longer period of time after a child is returned.
