Panel recommends more background checks in state foster care sy

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- 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.