National child welfare advocate responds to child abuse registry news | Des Moines Register Staff Blogs

National child welfare advocate responds to child abuse registry news | Des Moines Register Staff Blogs: "Richard Wexler, executive director of the Virginia-based National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, had this to say about the Iowa Department of Human Services’ plan for the state child abuse registry:

“What it boils down to is: They are willing to do nothing.

“All of the changes DHS proposes involve how to label alleged abusers and how long to keep them stigmatized. But the heart of the problem is, of course, due process – or rather, the lack of it. As a practical matter, DHS is judge, jury and reputation-executioner. All that it takes for any Iowan to be listed is one caseworker’s guess that it is “more likely than not” that something that Iowan did fits the state’s broad, vague definitions of maltreatment."