KSTP/Channel 5 deserves thanks for this investigative report on eight-year old Autumn Hallow’s murder. KSTP is currently the only Minnesota newsroom or editorial page covering child protection issues other than one-off crime reports.
In brief, Sherburne County screened out Autumn’s case despite knowing about repeated physical abuse of Autumn’s brother and 31 visits by Elk River Police to the perpetrators. We believe child protection statutes clearly indicate that Autumn’s case should have been investigated. This illustrates the need to standardize child protection practices statewide.
The police never laid eyes on Autumn despite repeated visits and a chilling recording of Autumn screaming, nor did they document whether they shared that recording with child protection. This demonstrates the need for statewide protocols on how law enforcement should perform child welfare checks and cross-reporting to child protection.
Unfortunately, there is little momentum towards these much-needed improvements.
Hear this blog post as well as our in-depth commentary in this week’s podcast.
See the transcript of the podcast here.
These deaths, and the countless others like it, are an abhorrent commentary on our society. I believe it was Plato who said you could determine the mark of civilization of a society by how it treats the weakest. By this standard, we are barbaric. The persistent need to reunite children with families may seem like a wholesome value, but when those families are abusive and sadistic then that value is subverted and children are consistently caught in the crosshairs.
The child protection system is fundamentally flawed and needs an overhaul. My experience in Sherburne county was infinitely less severe, but not ideal. My daughter was abused in an in-home daycare. Her leg was broken. Another infant had handprint bruises. But the county wouldn’t press criminal charges. The most I could do was make sure this woman would never be able to provided licensed child care and pursue a civil suit.
I did everything I could, but the county did not. I met and worked with some wonderful social workers, attorneys. and in particular, a truly wonderful police officer. But they work in this flawed system. The starting point, I believe is making changes at the legislative level. And to do that, there needs to be buy in from those who are advocating and lobbying—the professional associations representing child protection workers.