A bill to give the state more oversight over county child abuse investigations, a proposal that had strong support at the statehouse after the death of an 8-year-old in Nash County, has been derailed.
The measure still may pass, but a key lawmaker said Tuesday that may not be until next year, and that language that passed the state Senate unanimously in April will morph.
Other WRAL Top Stories
The Senate's language would have given the state’s Department of Health and Human Services too much power, state Rep. Sarah Stevens, part of leadership for the House’s Republican majority.
“I thought it was way too broad, and so did the counties,” Stevens said.
Because of that “Christal’s law,” named for Christal Lane, was plucked from Senate Bill 625, which remains a lengthy bill dealing with a wide range of foster care, adoption and other juvenile legal issues.
Lane died in February, and her grandmother was accused of beating her to death. A WRAL News investigation found that, nearly two months before the girl’s death, her school contacted the Nash County Department of Social Services saying officials suspected abuse. The Nash County Sheriff’s Office said its deputies told Nash DSS to take the girl and her siblings from the grandmother’s custody, but the department didn’t.
Since then at least one other questionable death has emerged in Nash County, and Monday the state took control of the state’s child welfare section. It was just the third time NCDHHS has taken over a local agency under powers the legislature authorized in 2017.
The reworked Senate Bill 625 got a committee hearing Tuesday, one of many steps to final passage. But with much remaining controversy – Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration has complaints about several parts of the bill, and the conservative NC Values Coalition has serious concerns about adoption language in it – the committee didn’t take a vote. Stevens, R-Surry, said the final bill may need to wait until next year’s legislative session to pass, and that an altered version of Christal’s Law may be added.
In addition to removing Christal's Law, Stevens altered the bill to give local departments of social services more power to take custody of children brought to hospital emergency rooms. Cooper’s DHHS said Tuesday that these changes would exacerbate an already serious problem: Every night there are 30 to 50 children in DSS custody sleeping in DSS offices or hotel rooms, according to Susan Osborne, a DHHS deputy secretary.
“This would give DSS custody of a new group of children,” Osborne told committee members. “The result of this will be more children with behavioral health needs in DSS offices and hotels.”
Stevens said the bill would only give DSS custody of children whose parents leave them at a hospital 48 hours after the hospital has said the child should be released.
“Somebody’s got to be in charge, and I thought that was DSS’s job,” Steven said.
Disability Rights NC, a watchdog group, also opposes this change, and DRNC lobbyist Tara Muller said parents often leave children with serious behavioral issues in the hospital because they fear the child will hurt them or their other children at home. The state has a shortage of therapists and psychiatrists, and many families can’t get the help they need, so they rely on hospital emergency rooms, Muller said.
“Families are not to blame for the deeply flawed behavioral health system,” she said.
Stevens said she wants to get children out of the emergency room and into better situations, and she emphasized that negotiations will continue over this language and other sections of the bill.