Last week the Star Tribune documented this horrific story about a Hennepin County father who shackled, raped, beat and starved his twin daughters for years despite multiple reports to child protection.
Is this a holdover from the years before the county added 100 workers, improved training, and reduced turnover — or a pattern that will continue?
It depends on whether the county continues to favor two practices in particular that keep children in hellish conditions. One is leaving children with their parents even in extreme circumstances. The other is interviewing children in front of their abusers — which apparently happened here.
Child protection is legally required to give child safety top priority even over parental rights. If actual practices are aligned with this law, we will hear fewer stories like this.