Holden signs bill to overhaul foster care

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Nearly two years after the abusive death of a toddler in foster care, Gov. Bob Holden signed legislation Tuesday granting new safeguards to children and more rights to parents accused of abusing or neglecting them.

Holden's signature came a year after he vetoed the legislature's first, more expansive attempt at revamping the state's foster-care system in reaction to the August 2002 death of 2-year-old Dominic James of Springfield.

In the meantime, jurors found the boy's foster father, John Wesley Dilley of Willard, guilty of fatally abusing Dominic, who died of what prosecutors described as shaken-baby syndrome. Dilley was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

After vetoing last year's bill, Holden ordered some of the proposed changes anyway, such as new protocols for the state's child abuse hot line, enhanced background checks on foster parents and a greater emphasis on placing children with relatives.

This year's legislation codifies those changes and enacts many more.

The new law opens to the public -- by July 1, 2005 -- most foster-care court hearings and requires the Supreme Court to develop procedures by next February for mandatory hearings to be held within three working days after a child is removed from a home.

The legislation increases the legal hurdle for removing children from their parents' home while granting more rights to parents in administrative proceedings. It also directs the state to use more private contractors as case managers for children and families after July 1, 2005.

But unlike last year's version, it sets no specific target for the percentage of cases that must be handled by contractors.

As of the end of May, Missouri had 11,440 children in its foster care system, a decrease of about 775 since August 2002, when Dominic died. About 10 percent of foster children, all in the St. Louis and Kansas City areas, are handled by private case managers.

Holden praised a one-sentence section of the bill indicating the Legislature's intent for children's and family services to gain accreditation within the next five years. Funding was included in the budget that takes effect Thursday.

Also included in the bill is an expansion of the state income tax credit program, effective Thursday, for people who adopt certain children. The law raises the annual cap on adoption tax credits from $2 million to $4 million, with half for in-state and half for out-of-state adoptions. It also allows the money to be distributed on a prorated basis if the amount sought by applicants exceeds the cap. The changes are intended to do away with the lines of people seeking the tax credits each July 1.

While Holden claimed many of the legislation's reforms already have been implemented by the executive branch, Hanaway said, "There are still dramatic, important reforms that are only being made because the bill is being passed." Hanaway, R-Warson Woods, and others worked throughout the past year to rectify Holden's concerns about the legislation.

Senate sponsor Norma Champion, R-Springfield, said she hopes the new law prompts an attitude change among employees at the Department of Social Services.

"Up until this time, the first reaction was the parents were probably at fault and the children needed protecting and the state knew what's best for them," Champion said. "I'm hoping what will come out of it as an end result is there will be a more coordinated effort to provide services to the whole family."