Next month is the fifth anniversary of the Governor’s Child Protection Task Force.
Its positive impacts include 407 more caseworkers, $215 million in additional revenues, and 14,120 more children getting help.
However, counties haven’t implemented changes recommended for the less enforcement-oriented child protection track known as Family Assessment. These include to:
- Interview children separately from and prior to adults during initial child protection visits.
- Train workers to complete fact-finding before assigning cases to the investigation or Family Assessment track.
- Put information in case notes so future workers know what occurred.
- Stop giving parents advance notice of a child protection visit.
Without these changes workers can’t get the information they need to protect children.
Five years of inaction leave little alternative but to implement them through legislation.