Kansas is not going to take it any more.

After top state government officials gave a strong endorsement of their charge late last year, people involved in investigating the abuse of children are coming together as never before. Their goal: improve the safety of children in Kansas and increase the successful prosecutions of child abuse perpetrators.

At a symposium held in Wichita last September, Gov. Bill Graves, Chief Justice Kay McFarland, and Attorney General Carla Stovall offered strong support to 125 experts in child abuse investigation who came to work on ways to improve the state's response to child abuse. The symposium was organized by Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services Secretary Rochelle Chronister, who was concerned over a low rate of confirmed child abuse cases in Kansas as compared to a much higher rate of child abuse reports. Attending the symposium were prosecutors, social workers, law enforcement officials, advocates and foster care providers.

At a follow-up meeting held in Salina in January, many of those same experts laid out the need for a coordinated response in the investigation of child abuse reports. They also planned a major training initiative for SRS social workers, prosecutors, and law enforcement officers.

Under the plan created in Salina, the two entities most directly involved in the investigations of child abuse will be trained together. SRS social workers have the duty to receive and investigate reports of abuse, determine if action is required to protect the child, and conduct a joint investigation with law enforcement in specified situations. Law enforcement is also mandated to receive and investigate reports of child abuse under Kansas law.

"Communities are learning that various disciplines are much more effective when they work together; their roles fit nicely together," said Joyce Allegrucci, a private consultant on foster care issues who heads a ‘watchdog' task force organized after the symposium. "In the past, people didn't recognize that their roles fit together, and they collided."

Bruce Linhos, head of the Children's Alliance of Kansas, said the change in attitudes about solving problems with child abuse investigations is palpable. He said in the past, different entities would accuse each other of not doing the job.

"I don't know what did it," he said. "Once they listened to each other, coordination improved. It took people talking to each other who hadn't talked before."

Allegrucci said the strong signals from top officials made the difference.

"When the governor, the chief justice, and the attorney general come together with the SRS secretary to say they're not going to take it any more, it makes a difference," she said.

SRS Commissioner of Children and Family Services, Terersa Markowitz, who chaired the meeting in Salina, said there has been a major change in direction concerning work being done to prevent child abuse and prosecute abusers since the symposium. She said finger pointing has stopped and better coordination has begun.

"There has been a concentrated effort to bring the players together so coordination and collaboration improve," she said.

A series of legislative changes coming out of the symposium have been requested, including stiffer sentences for child abuse crimes and defining the need for mandatory reporters of child abuse to make their report promptly.

But the biggest realization for all involved is how essential coordination is between agencies involved in child abuse investigations.

"Some communities are learning on their own and not looking for guidance from the state," Allegrucci said. "But in many places, the symposium became a catalyst to bring folks together."

Allegrucci said the Kansas Bureau of Investigation has for years done training of law enforcement officers and of SRS social workers on investigating child abuse. But seldom have all these important players been brought together for this training. That will change, she said. Joint training of SRS social workers and law enforcement personnel is now being scheduled.

"That is so law enforcement understands SRS's role and SRS understands law enforcement's role," she said. "And all the players need to understand the courts a lot better."

Scott Teeselink, special agent with the KBI who has been working with the group, said child abuse investigations are among the most difficult because of the age of the victim and the difficulty in doing interviews. He said this is why the need exists to train both SRS social workers and law enforcement officers to work as a team.

"We see some graphic, terrible cases," he said. "It's one thing to interview adults -- you're talking to someone on the same level. But when you are called in to the ER (emergency room) or school to interview a 5-year-old ... it's a pretty tough job."

Allegrucci said the push for better results for the investigation of child abuse will continue. She said improvements are also being made between the Department of Education and SRS, including better notification of schools when a child must move to another area after an abuse investigation and the quicker transfer of a child's school records from school to school.

Allegrucci also said community recognition and response to child abuse is key.

"First of all, we need community recognition that things like this do happen," she said. "And then we need support for people doing these jobs. In some communities, there is such heavy denial. We're trying to get a collective voice from a community in terms of what a community will tolerate in the treatment of its children. Where do we draw the line for children at risk?"

At the watchdog group meeting in Salina, ‘pilot' communities that appear to be ahead of the rest of the state in working together toward finding solutions about child abuse investigation were identified.

One pilot area was identified as Southeast Kansas, where local mental health centers have been working together with law enforcement and others on treatment, prevention and investigation.

Jan Cosgrove, a sexual abuse specialist in the Coffeyville office of Four County Mental Health Center, said problems with sexual abuse investigations were identified in southeast Kansas quite some time ago. One part of the problem, she said, was that after SRS privatized several programs previously carried out by state workers, social workers who worked in other child welfare areas were newly assigned to child abuse investigation.

"The problem is, not everyone has had training and experience," she said.

In Southeast Kansas, Cosgrove said they have had a number of training courses and more are scheduled, including sessions for county attorneys and for nurses concerning medical evidence.

"The interviewing and the medical evidence are the big things" in the investigation of child abuse, including sexual abuse, she said.

Cosgrove said she is excited by the new emphasis being placed on the problem of child abuse statewide.

"My colleagues look at me and say it's a morbid thing to get excited about," she said. "But the real issue is, it does happen and we've been responding to it so inadequately. I get excited that maybe we will start responding to it adequately."

Page Last Updated: May 29, 2001