The most important bill of 2018

Remember the horrific child abuse situation in Post Falls last summer? The details printed in the Cd’A Press were upsetting, and certainly every person reading the article questioned how such inhuman abuse could happen anywhere, especially in our community. As your state senator and a member of the Interim Committee on Foster Care, I was particularly concerned and called the Department of Health and Welfare (DHW) for more information, which they shared with me.

Though the case remains confidential, there have now been changes made, and I’m excited to tell you about them. After our two-year Foster Care Interim committee, a small working group formed this past January to craft legislation addressing the Post Falls case and more. The bill (S1341) passed unanimously through the Senate and House and was signed into law by the governor just before our session ended last week. What an accomplishment!

Our success was through collaboration with the Judiciary, DHW, Public Health Districts, JFAC Budget analysts and non-profits involved with children and families. It was not an easy process and ongoing cooperation will be needed as we put the changes into action.

The bill states, in part, that if the DHW plans to reunite a child with their parents, and the home contains any adult with a conviction of felony injury to a child or lewd and lascivious conduct, there will be an investigation with extensive follow up, regular home visits and protective supervision.

The bill also gives power to the courts to make permanent placement considerations using “all relevant factors,” including a list of seven particulars, one of which is a history of domestic violence or a conviction for lewd and lascivious conduct or felony injury to a child.

And this legislation asks the DHW to keep siblings together whenever possible.

The most powerful part of the bill is oversight and prevention. It energizes the already existing Citizen Review Panels in each of our seven health districts, takes them out of DHW and has them meet at the Public Health Districts, though the panels will be independent. These confidential panels will review the Foster Care cases and report twice a year to a new Legislative Oversight Committee. The highly respected, non-partisan Office of Performance Evaluation in the Capitol recommended this Oversight Committee in their in-depth research report on Foster Care in Idaho.

That was the oversight action of the bill, but we truly want to prevent children from falling into Foster Care in the first place. So the bulk of this legislation’s funding goes to expand the small but successful Home Visiting programs in the Public Health Districts. Right now only select counties can access the program. This bill opens it up to every county in our state. These Home Visiting programs are focused on at-risk families, to strengthen relationships and parenting skills, and help deal with substance dependency and basic safety concerns.

If we, as a state, can help prevent the trauma preceding a child needing Foster Care services, we can improve their lives tremendously, and increase their ability to learn in school and succeed in life. We will also thereby decrease the populations in Juvenile Detention and Adult Corrections, creating a win-win for taxpayers and families alike.

That’s why I think this is the most important bill of our 2018 session. This is only the first step. There’s a great deal of work ahead but we are moving the status quo, and that is a success.

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Mary Souza is the state senator from District 4, Coeur d’Alene. She can be reached at MSouza@senate.idaho.gov.