As a hearing began on two bills dealing with child abuse, predictions that compromise legislation ultimately will be needed came from the Republican sponsors of a Senate measure that is viewed as an alternative to Governor Napolitano’s proposal to reform Child Protective Services (CPS).

In the meantime, Senate Democrats were not optimistic about passage of the governor’s bill.

“It’s our sense the bill won’t get out,” said Sen. Linda Aguirre, D-Dist. 16.

And a senator who worked on drafting the governor’s bill said he expects its defeat.

“The Republican leadership will stop the train all together,” said Sen. Bill Brotherton, D-Dist. 14, who is a cosponsor of the governor’s bill (S1004).

Senate President Ken Bennett, R-Dist. 1, said he was trying “to get people on the train” toward reaching a consensus on CPS and Department of Corrections bills by forming bipartisan work groups that begin meeting Nov. 3.

Mr. Brotherton called the work groups “a silly idea,” asking why the bills should not first go through the regular committee hearing.

“Neither [CPS bill] will make third reading,” said Sen. Dean Martin, R-Dist. 6. He and Sen. Robert Blendu, R-Dist. 12, are prime sponsors of S1007, which calls for creation of a new and separate department to handle matters of child and family welfare that currently fall under CPS, a division of the Department of Economic Security.

Committee Hears Call For New Department

The Senate Family Services Committee took testimony Oct. 30 on S1004, which requests $35.5 million in supplemental funding for CPS, and S1007, a 94-page emergency act that reflects the views of Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley and Steve Twist, a former assistant attorney general. S1007 calls for creation of the Department of Child Protection by July 1, 2004. The hearing was for informational purposes only, and no votes were taken.

A bill identical to S1007 was introduced in the House Oct. 30 by Rep. John Huppenthal, R-Dist. 20. Both measures state that protecting children is the state’s number one priority.

The new department would have authority over all institutions, facilities and programs for children and families.

In the governor’s opposition to a new department, she said it would cost $6 million to $8 million to establish and would accomplish nothing more than moving boxes around on the government’s organizational chart.

S1007 does not request an appropriation for the new department.

The Romley-Twist bill has many of the reforms contained in the governor’s bill, and it more specifically targets parental drug and alcohol abuse. It also calls for joint investigations “in every case involving allegations of criminal child abuse or neglect.” The investigations would be conducted by child protective workers and law enforcement officials under standards established in each county.

Mr. Martin and Mr. Blendu say a third bill is likely if the Legislature expects to pass any reforms to better protect children against abuse and neglect.

Mr. Blendu said neither bill adequately addresses the need to have investigators skilled in criminal matters, adding that CPS investigators “have fouled up [some] investigations to the point they couldn’t be prosecuted.”

Drugs And Parents

He added that a compromise bill should include uniform child abuse investigative standards for all counties, with some flexibility for local circumstances.

Sen. Mark Anderson, R-Dist. 18, chairman of the Senate Family Services Committee, says drug and alcohol abuse are prevalent in most cases of child abuse investigated by CPS.

Sen. Jim Waring, R-Dist. 7, agrees.

“The drug problem fuels almost every case,” he said in a recent interview.

The Romley-Twist bill deals more severely with parents who abuse drugs in child welfare cases than does the governor’s bill.

While S1004 says parental abuse of drugs and alcohol would be considered in the determination of whether child neglect has occurred, S1007’s definitions of an “unfit home” include “use by the mother of alcohol or other drugs during pregnancy if the child’s health or development, before or at birth, is demonstrably adversely affected…” and a home where there are materials used to manufacture a dangerous drug.

S1007 also revises the definitions of “serious emotional injury” and “serious physical injury,” and it reflects recent CPS cases involving a mother who sold her daughter into prostitution to support her cocaine habit and a couple who imprisoned their children cages at home.

The Romley-Twist bill revises current laws that deal with sexual exploitation, parental drug abuse, and it adds “unnecessary and unreasonable physical restraint or confinement” definitions of child abuse.

The proposed Department of Child Protection would include a separate and independent division to investigate all allegations of child abuse and neglect, and those investigations would always include local law enforcement acting under protocols established by the division and county law officials. The protocols would be subject to review by legislators.

S1007 also calls for:

• Strengthening families without compromising child safety.

• Establishing a system to track the welfare of abused children.

• Coordinating caseworker and law enforcement training.

• Taking into account the criminal history of parents when assessing risk to a child.

• Making case records public while protecting the identity of a child.

• Opening custody hearings or custody termination jury trials to the public at the discretion of the presiding judge and permitting the child to be present to testify.

Additionally, the bill says, “If the court or jury terminates the parental rights of a parent to one child, and the parent has more than one child, the court may order the filing of a dependency petition with respect to the remaining children.”

It adds that any person with legitimate interest in a child may seek termination of parental, guardian or custodial rights, but must present “clear and convincing evidence” of child abuse or neglect.

S1007 calls for penalties that range up to 35 years in prison for anyone convicted of continuous (three or more acts of) physical abuse or neglect of a child younger than 14 years old.

As an emergency measure, the Department of Child Protection Act, if passed by the Legislature with two-thirds majorities in each chamber, would go into effect with the governor’s signature or if the governor allows it to become law without her signature. But the bill stipulates that the Second Regular Session of the 46th Legislature would need to pass legislation to conform the act to existing statutes.

And it calls for a director of the new department to be named by the governor, subject to Senate confirmation. —