State trooper commended for investigation into child's death

Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper Danielle Heil, former Cape Girardeau resident, received a proclamation from Gov. Bob Holden on Feb. 17 for her outstanding work in the Dominic James -- Division of Family Services (DFS) investigation in the Springfield, Mo., area.

Heil, the lead investigator in the case, works in Springfield.

She explained that after the Springfield 2-year-old was killed in August 2002, while placed in foster care, several people contacted the governor's office and expressed their discontent with the system.

This case, having grabbed the public's attention, resulted in a quest to find out where the system broke down, hoping to prevent future incidents.

Heil's role, separate from the criminal investigation, relied on her expertise in conducting interviews, a skill she perfected while training to become a state trooper. She interviewed the biological parents, foster parents, employees of the DFS, concerned residents and individuals involved in the case in an effort to discover where the system failed.

Heil, a 27-year-old mother of two, said, "This one really hit home. When children come from terrible home lives and end up in terrible foster care situations that don't pay attention to individual cases, the situation is tragic."

Heil's report to the governor's office revealed a breakdown in communication between the DFS, the biological and foster parents and the juvenile offices, in Dominic's case. Heil said, "Not to knock the DFS - they do the best they can. With 60 to 70 cases per caseworker, things are often overlooked." Policy and procedure recommends two home visits per month. Caseworkers are not seeing the classic signs of neglect. In order to effectively do their jobs, only about 30 cases should be assigned.