A stronger child protection system in Minnesota would require better oversight, increased collaboration between social workers and law enforcement, and more accountability to the public, a task force was told Friday.
Dr. David Sanders was director of Hennepin County's child protection unit until 2003, and now serves as the executive vice president for Casey Family Programs, which works to "safely reduce the number of children in foster care." Last year Sanders was appointed by President Obama to serve as chairman of the Federal Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities.
At a task force convened by Gov. Mark Dayton in response to child protection failures, Sanders said there is no "silver bullet" to improve the system. "What we know to reduce child maltreatment fatalities is actually very limited," he said.
Sanders left Hennepin County to take over as the head of the Los Angeles child protection agency, where he found many of the same issues that Minnesota faces today: overwhelmed social workers, a system closed to public scrutiny, and no data that showed outcomes for children in the system.
Sanders recommended the task force make several changes, starting with "being crystal-clear" on what a successful system would look like.
"Make sure you're measuring success, and using measures publicly," he said.
He also said that child protection should have oversight independent of the agencies and the state Department of Human Services, which currently performs those tasks.
"It can't be oversight through and by the child protection system," Sanders said.
