County officials oppose state takeover of child-protection services

Denver Post
County officials oppose state takeover of child-protection services
By Mike McPhee
The Denver Post
Posted: 12/10/2009 01:00:00 AM MST
Updated: 12/10/2009 01:50:07 AM MST


A parade of county workers and elected leaders told Gov. Bill Ritter's panel on child welfare Wednesday that the state should not take over the county's roles of protecting children from being abused.

"There's no evidence that families and children will be better protected by the state," Jeanne North, director of nursing for the Tri-County Health Department of Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties, said at a meeting convened by Colorado Counties Inc.

It was the fourth public meeting held to respond to recommendations made by Ritter's Child Welfare Action Committee, created in 2007 after the abuse-related deaths of 13 children in protective services.

Panel member Katherine Wells then asked North why she didn't support a regional program administered by the state that would be structured very similar to her department, Colorado's largest.

"We feel the counties will lose flexibility and control over their funding," North said.

The committee has its final meeting today to draft its recommendations to Ritter. In October, it released 29 recommendations, all of which have been received well by human service agencies except for two: No. 14, which calls for a central phone bank for reporting abuse; and No. 29, which calls for the state to centralize supervision and funding of protective agencies. Ritter tabled those and accepted the other recommendations.

He then convened another committee to study 14 and 29 and get back to him by December 2010.

Mike McPhee: 303-954-1409 or mmcphee@denverpost.com

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_13964823?source=rss

(Maybe families would be better off if the states took over. At least elected official's are held accountable for their misdeeds, whereas DCYF/CPS is never held accountable.)