Mo fosters have criminal bkgrnd check, fingerprints, too

Panel issues final report on Missouri foster care system
By Paul Sloca
Associated Press Writer
06/13/2003


JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A new report backs efforts by Missouri lawmakers to
expand criminal background checks for potential foster parents but recommends
against opening all child abuse and neglect cases to the public.

The final report by the Commission on Children's Justice was released Thursday
-- several weeks after the Legislature passed a bill overhauling the state's
child welfare system. The legislation is pending before Gov. Bob Holden.

Both the legislation and creation of the commission were prompted by last
August's death of 2-year-old Dominic James of Springfield.

Dominic was removed from his mother after a domestic dispute and placed with a
foster family, where he remained even after his biological father and others
expressed concern that he showed signs of abuse. Dominic's foster father, John
Dilley of Willard, has pleaded innocent to charges of abuse and murder.

The commission's report recommends that potential foster parents be subject to
FBI fingerprint checks and a search of civil court records -- two measures that
are included in the legislation. But such adults should not have to pay for the
checks, the report said.

Some legislators have suggested that a background check might have prevented
Dominic's placement with Dilley, who had been subject at least once to a civil
restraining order.

In addition, the commission recommended that the state Division of Family
Services -- which runs the foster care system -- should be required to allow a
parent and child to visit within 24 to 48 hours after the child is removed from
the home unless a visit could put the child in danger.

Further, the commission recommended that open hearings in child welfare cases
be tested as pilot projects for two years in St. Louis city, Greene and Cole
counties and two rural counties to be selected by the chief justice of the
Missouri Supreme Court.

But the commission also recommended that all records in child abuse and neglect
cases remain closed to the public. The bill passed by the Legislature makes
most court proceedings and records in such cases open to the public.

House Speaker Catherine Hanaway, who sponsored the bill and served on the
commission, had originally proposed open court pilot projects but changed the
legislation as the bill moved through the process.

``We should go to a statewide opening of records,'' Hanaway, R-Warson Woods,
said Friday.

Legislators and the commission were in agreement that the state should make
more use of private contractors to serve children and families.

Made up of people from all branches of government and the private sector, the
commission has been gathering information from other states and child advocacy
groups since it was formed in January.

The director of the Department of Social Services, which oversees the Division
of Family Services, called the new report a valuable tool.

``I will using it as a blueprint to try and improve our child welfare system in
Missouri,'' said Steve Roling, who was appointed after Katherine Martin
resigned as director two months ago. He noted that the report ``talks about
solutions and doesn't go looking for blame,'' Roling said.

The commission, while noting the current state budget crisis, said its
recommendations were made without considering the money shortage.

``I think it's the kind of thing where the commission will be throwing the
rocks in the water and hopefully the ripple effects will be picked up by the
judges and the workers,'' said commission member Betty Sims, a former state
senator who now is involved with child advocacy groups.

The commission also urged stronger efforts to place foster children with
relatives. While Missouri law gives families preference in foster care cases,
just 24 percent of placements occur that way. By comparison, 36 percent of
Illinois foster children are placed with relatives.

AP-CS-06-13-03 1831EDT