House File 191 is dead. Perhaps that's just as well. It addressed only a few of the many problems with Iowa's child abuse registry. This state needs more than tinkering when it comes to a blacklist that is fundamentally flawed.
Fixing any disaster is complicated. Iowa's registry is a disaster.
Instead of passing HF 191 out of committee, lawmakers added an amendment to another bill. It requires the Iowa Department of Human Services to work with other agencies and groups to address problems with the registry and report back in December.
That is an incredibly important task - one that the 50,000 Iowans on the registry and anyone who lives with or works with children should be involved in.
Iowans accused of abusing a child - usually their own child - don't have adequate due-process rights before they're placed by a social worker on the state-maintained list. Then the "guilty" Iowan has a short window of time to appeal. Getting a final answer on an appeal can take a year. Miss the deadline and remain on the registry for 10 years.
Numerous Iowans have had their lives turned upside down because of the registry. Some say they never even knew they were on it. Some lost jobs or couldn't find new jobs. One was a teacher afraid to apply for a new position because she'd gotten into a physical altercation with her teenage daughter years earlier.
The new director of DHS, Chuck Palmer, told the Register editorial staff he met Iowans who couldn't finish an academic degree because the registry prevented them from participating in a required internship. Last year the Iowa Supreme Court ruled the state wrongly placed an Iowa City mother on the registry. Acting Citizens' Aide/Ombudsman Ruth Cooperrider said her office has received complaints from Iowans who say the state did not treat them fairly.
Addressing what's wrong with the registry must be comprehensive, and the discussion should include rethinking the very existence of the database. Some states do not have child abuse registries, and the Iowa DHS could continue to maintain an internal database to assist in child abuse investigations.
In fact, eliminating the registry would likely save much more money than tinkering with the current system. Rep. Bruce Hunter (D-Des Moines) said state agencies told him implementing HF 191 - which proposed only a few changes - would have cost a fortune.
"I, for one, didn't believe their costs at all," said Hunter. "I was seeing figures between the three departments that it would take at least 30-some employees and over a million to do all this." He suspects inflated costs of legislation come from "a worst-case estimate of 'I don't really want to do this program, so it's probably gonna take 32 people' " attitude. Yet, Hunter said he understands state agencies are underfunded.
"I really and truly believe this year all the parties realize there's a big problem," he said. "I believe DHS was sincere and they are going to come up with some changes and get us on the road for fixing this problem."
That must happen. ..Source.. by The Register's editorial
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