McCaskill announces plan for reducing child abuse

ST. LOUIS -- Democrat Claire McCaskill said Wednesday that as governor, she would overhaul Missouri's child protective services agency in ways that would help the state do a better job of safeguarding children.

McCaskill, the state auditor, said her plan draws on insights gleaned from past audits of the state's child abuse hot line and her experience as Jackson County prosecutor.

She said her plan, announced at a news conference here, would not require statutory changes, but change the way the agency runs. It emphasizes better training of child abuse workers, classification of cases and management of caseloads, along with improving communication with schools, law enforcement and other partner agencies.

It calls for improvements to ensure abusers can be prosecuted, and more careful monitoring of abuse cases that need family services.

"We will put more resources into the agency, and we will make progress every year," McCaskill said.

McCaskill in April released an audit report on the handling of abuse cases in Jackson and Greene counties and the city of St. Louis in 2003 -- a follow-up to her office's child abuse hot line report in December 2000.

She found that improvements had been made, but that response to child abuse hot line calls was still too slow, complex cases lacked sufficient followup and monitoring, and that worker training was lacking, resulting in 40 percent of cases of substantiated abuse being overturned for poor investigation and documentation.

McCaskill would correct that by training workers in how to screen, assess and investigate cases and provide enough caseworkers and supervisors to monitor complex cases.

McCaskill said she'd lower caseloads to more manageable levels -- and prevent caseworker burnout, turnover and mistakes -- by assigning difficult cases to more experienced workers, instituting better management practices and reducing attrition through financial and professional rewards for outstanding performance.

McCaskill's plan also calls for:

Creating settings statewide to conduct interviews with children apart from the alleged abuser or other influential people.

Continually identifying best practices in the nation to implement in Missouri.

Identifying trained specialists to work with prosecutors and caseworkers on investigations.

Assigning a liaison to law enforcement, social services, the child's advocate and family courts to ensure the child's best interest is being served.

Establishing a link among juvenile court, schools and child protective services to detect early signs of abuse or neglect, and track and monitor an at-risk child.

Working to meet federal standards, including seven deficient areas regarding safe and stable placement of children in foster care. The state could lose $1.5 million in federal funding if it doesn't fix its system for caring for abused and neglected children.

A spokesman for Republican Matt Blunt's gubernatorial campaign said Blunt would "aggressively pursue and penalize abusers" of children and seniors.

John Hancock said that as state auditor, McCaskill has not produced an action in pursuit of child abusers and "clearly did not follow through on her campaign promise [in 1998] to stop payments to bad nursing home operations."

McCaskill said the auditor's job is to point out problems in government, and it's the officeholder's responsibility to take action. "That's the reason I'm running for governor," she said.

She said she is a champion of nursing home reform, and as governor will make them even safer.