Minnesota Poll: Child protection gets passing grade

Most Minnesotans give the child protection system a passing grade, although a third say officials need to be more aggressive in removing children from abusive homes.

The latest Star Tribune Minnesota Poll found that 62 percent of residents said child protection officials are doing a good or a fair job, compared with 15 percent who said they are doing poorly. Another 21 percent said they were not sure about the job that child protection was doing.

Yet when asked about the most difficult recommendation a child protection worker has to make — to remove a child from the home of an abusive parent — 31 percent said workers were not being aggressive enough. Four percent thought child protection was too aggressive, while 33 percent said they were not sure if they were making the right decisions.

Traci LaLiberte, the executive director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare, said it was concerning that a large proportion of the respondents did not have enough information to say whether child protection was doing a good job.

"The findings of this poll tell me that we need to continue to educate the public on the roles and responsibilities of child protection to encourage informed civic engagement," LaLiberte said.

Some of the 800 likely voters polled Oct. 20-22 said they did not know enough about how child protection workers did their jobs to respond to the questions.

"I think the average person doesn't pay much attention to what they're doing unless they get involved with the system or an incident ends up occurring and it ends up in the news," said David Fishbeck, a retired postal worker who lives in New Brighton. "Otherwise, they're just doing their jobs and no one notices."

Part of that lack of understanding may be explained by the privacy that state law grants to families involved in child protection, closing off much of the work child protection does from the public.

Steve Marincel, who got to know child protection workers as a representative for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, called them "dedicated, hardworking people."

"I think they have the most difficult job I could possibly imagine," said Marincel, of St. Paul. "They're trying to protect children, but their parents also have rights, and they're being attacked by those people while trying to protect kids."

Some respondents who were critical of child protection weren't angry with the workers. Mike Weber of Loretto said: "Why do we need government to tell us how we can and can't raise our kids?"

Weber said police should respond to reports of child abuse, not social workers.

The poll found that opinions of child protection were generally consistent across the state regardless of gender, income or political affiliation.

Residents in southern Minnesota were more likely to say child protection was doing a better job than residents in the northern part of the state. Metro residents gave the lowest scores to child protection, with only 26 percent in Hennepin and Ramsey counties saying workers were doing a good to an excellent job.

Democrats were more likely to praise child protection, with 75 percent saying they were doing a good or a fair job, compared with 62 percent of Republicans. Only 47 percent of independents replied that way.

"It is important that the public has confidence the child protection system is keeping kids safe," said Lucinda Jesson, commissioner of the Department of Human Services. "We hope the work of the recently established Governor's Task Force on the Protection of Children will spark a broad community conversation that helps make the system more effective and transparent."

Brandon Stahl • 612-673-4626