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MILLERSBURG — Designed with intent of closing the gap in laws governing child abuse, neglect and dependence, Ohio House Bill 371 has ruffled some feathers.

An advocate for the proposed law is Wayne County Children Services Executive Director Randy Muth, who said the bill is designed to replace a statute that was written 20-25 years ago, when the definition of dependency, in particular, was left vague. He said the statute has been used by agencies to take custody of any child for whom it feels the need to do so.

He says among the statutes used by his agency it’s the most popular because it’s the easiest to prove. It’s rarely used in Holmes County for just that reason, said Dan Jackson, director of Job and Family Services, noting even if a child is found to be dependent a judge is limited in what he can order in the way of tangible remedies, including parenting classes.

Jackson said his agency uses abuse and neglect, often opting against investigating cases that do not meet those criteria. He’s now afraid that with seven categories, rather than just two, mandatory reporters will call constantly, and they’ll be investigating cases constantly.

According to the bill, a child in need of protective services has been physically harmed, sexually harmed, emotionally harmed, harmed by exposure to substance misuse, is lacking necessary health care, is lacking legally required education or is lacking necessary care or supervision.
Muth said these categories were born out of a collective knowledge of the law and legislation and how the courts have interpreted the statute over the past few decades. “There have been developments in law, and the courts have told us under what conditions warrants this so we can understand what behaviors are acceptable and what are not,” he said.

“A good law should let the average person know what is acceptable and what is not acceptable behavior,” Muth said. “We have a mandatory reporter law, but you can’t tell what is child abuse and neglect.” But, Jackson said many other directors and mandatory reporters share his concern that what was supposed to offer more direction actually is more broad and could apply to any child at any given time.

While Muth says agencies can still use discretion in acting on reports of a child in need of service as they do now, Jackson said he feels his hands are tied because he couldn’t face the potential liability if the agency opted not to conduct a full investigation and a consequential tragedy happened down the road.

Even if no wrongdoing is found, Jackson said, he fears the investigation could cause significant trauma to many families. Investigations, he said, involve questioning about very personal information and doing so of parents and children separate from each other. Further, he said, regardless of the outcome, the investigative report is filed with the state for perpetuity.

Separating parent from child and perhaps asking needless questions can scar children more than some of the allegations Children Services may have to investigate, said Jackson, noting even more families could develop a negative attitude about the agency.

“My concern is how far this could go. We can now get a call we don’t act on because it doesn’t rise to the level of abuse or neglect,” Jackson said, predicting introduction of new categories will overwhelm his agency. Consequently, he said, children who are truly in need of services may fall through the cracks because resources are diverted away from those who under current law are suspected of being either abused or neglected.

Muth argues the increase in number of categories will be offset by introduction of a mental element. Currently, child abuse and neglect law says the harm was the result of an action. The new law would introduce the idea the adult was negligent or intentional in his action that caused the child’s injury, Muth said.

State Rep. Ron Amstutz, R-Wooster, is one of the bill’s sponsors. However, after hearing all of the opposition he said, “They all of a sudden got in a rush to put the legislation together and didn’t get enough work done to get it together. I’ve now looked at the bill in more detail, and I have some questions.”

He maintains the bill has value, but said it is well in need of corrective language, so much so he feels the bill will not pass this year. Among the changes he projects is a definition of “children in need of protective services,” because, like Jackson, Amstutz notes, given the seven categories, “some of us feel that given that argument, almost every family would find themselves in violation.” Without a clear definition, he said, the law would have to rely on the goodwill and common sense of children service agencies and judges. By clarifying the language “we’re creating better checks and balances,” Amstutz said.

Muth, as chairman of the Public Children Services Association of Ohio, has been looking at the bill language for four years. He feels it is complete as written and in need of no changes.
Additionally, he said, he sees little to no increase in caseload for children services agencies and notes those agencies may still opt not to investigate complaints at their discretion.

Jackson, on the other hand, is glad to hear of the proposed changes, which could help to make the entirety of the bill less vague, helping his employees focus attention on families and children truly in need and not traumatizing, by virtue of an “invasive intrusion” of an investigation when there is nothing to find.