Child protection cases crowd Montana courts

Sunday, Jan 24, 2016

One year ago, Montana Chief Justice Mike McGrath stood before the Legislature and reported that the number of child abuse and neglect cases filed in District Courts statewide increased from 1,006 in 2009 to 1,609 in 2014. That was an increase of 603 cases in five years.

If McGrath were making that speech today, he would have a much worse trend to report. In 2015 alone, Montana courts saw 2,321 new or reopened abuse and neglect cases — an increase of 712 cases over 2014. Not only is child abuse and neglect growing, the rate of growth has exploded.

Nowhere is the growth of child abuse and neglect cases a bigger problem than in Yellowstone County. According to Supreme Court records, 512 abuse and neglect cases were filed here last year, including 60 cases that were reopened.

The next biggest child protection caseload is in Cascade County where 386 cases were filed in 2015. Although their numbers of children were smaller, other counties saw double-digit percentage increases in their filings.

Addicted parents

“It’s startling,” McGrath said last week from his Helena office. “What we see up here are cases with drugs, alcohol and mental illness. Meth is a feature in most of them.”

The Supreme Court has initiated mediation programs to try to resolve some of these cases faster. The 2015 Legislature provided funding for these pilot programs that involve an experienced attorney acting as a facilitator to get agreement on what children and parents need before the case goes to the judge.

With the increase in cases, there are more instances in which courts have terminated parents’ rights because of child abuse. The Supreme Court has seen more appeals, but seldom sees a termination that should be reversed, McGrath said. “Courts usually follow the appropriate process,” he said.

When the state files a child abuse or neglect complaint, it’s usually a civil case involving child protection services. Each parent is provided with an attorney to represent them. The county attorney’s office represents the department, and in Yellowstone County an attorney represents the child’s best interests. The court may also be assisted by a court appointed special advocate, a trained, but unpaid volunteer. In Yellowstone County, about half of the children in the child protection system have CASAs to advocate for them.

Judges, attorneys and Child and Family Services Division have tried several different approaches to better handle the growing caseload. Some haven’t helped and have been reversed. The process of assigning cases among the District Court judges is being revised again to even out the workload. The switch to having the same social worker do both investigation and ongoing services has been reversed to separate those two duties in the Billings office.

In County Attorney Scott Twito’s office, three deputy county attorneys — Corbit Harrington, Rick Helm and Heather Sather — work full time on civil child abuse and neglect cases. Fortunately, all of these attorneys have extensive experience in the child protection system, but the burgeoning caseload means each carries more cases.

“My staff is under terrible stress,” Twito said last week. “They have done a great job.”

County remedies

Twito is working to streamline the process where possible. For example, he is pushing for a switch to electronic pleadings in child-abuse neglect cases, which would save all attorneys time on photo copying and exchanging papers.

He also plans to make a mid-year budget request to the County Commission for a part-time staff person (not an attorney) to assist with child abuse cases and Justice Court cases.

Looking at only new cases filed, Yellowstone County had 452 in 2015, compared with 189 in 2014. The county attorney’s office case filings have quadrupled since 2010.

Among the 452 kids in new cases last year, 88 involved child abuse, 68 involved domestic violence, 34 involved child sexual abuse and the rest involved serious neglect, such as not having diapers changed or not being fed for days. Many neglect cases involve a parent with mental illness that isn’t being effectively treated.

Hurry up help

The Legislature’s Children, Families, Health and Human Services Interim Committee is studying child protection issues, as is the Protect Montana Kids Commission appointed by Gov. Steve Bullock. We commend the lawmakers who are paying attention to these problems. We are encouraged that the governor, lawmakers and children’s advocates will achieve system improvements.

We call on them to hurry. Every day, the Montana child abuse hotline rings with new reports of children being harmed. Every night, more than 2,000 Montana kids are sleeping away from home because their parents hit them, molested them or abandoned them for drugs.

Montanans must find more effective ways to prevent child abuse and better ways to ensure the safety of those tots who have been abused.