Hearne: Lax Kansas Child Abuse Laws May Benefit Tyreek Hill, Chiefs

More evidence that the Star is dragging its feet on the Tyreek Hill child abuse investigation…

The following headline from the local newspaper’s sister daily in Wichita:=

“Kansas uses more rigorous evidence standard for child abuse than other states.”

“Kansas is the only state in the country that requires clear and convincing evidence to substantiate an allegation of child abuse or neglect,” the Wichita Eagle reported five years back. “That standard could be putting children at risk, some in the child welfare field say.”

Which may explain Kansas Department for Children and Families and the Chiefs foot dragging on Tyreek Hill’s three year-old son’s child abuse investigation.

“No other state requires such a high burden of proof, according to Child Maltreatment 2012, a study by the Administration for Children and Families, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A survey of states found that most use a preponderance of evidence, a less rigorous standard in which evidence shows it is more likely than not that abuse or neglect occurred.”

Until 2004, Kansas also used the preponderance of evidence standard.

No mas.

“Since then, it has required clear and convincing evidence that an alleged perpetrator’s actions or inactions meet the legal definition of abuse or neglect,” the Eagle reported.

“It is concerning,” Diana Schunn, executive director of the Child Advocacy Center of Sedgwick County, said of the higher standard now in place. “It seems odd to me that all of the investigation and services that are done are focused on the child and when we get to the finding, that focuses on the offender and not so much on the safety of the child,” she added.

 Short story long: If indeed Hill is allegedly guilty of abusing his young son, he could not have picked a better state than the great state of Kansas.

“Because the DCF (Department for Children) substantiates so few cases — about 6 percent of all reports of child abuse and neglect — for the purpose of putting people on the registry, the state could ultimately put children’s safety at risk — not intentionally, Schunn said.”

Case in point:

“A social worker told a judge that a doctor had diagnosed (a) girl as a victim of child torture,” the Eagle writes. “Before police removed her and her siblings from their home, the DCF had taken eight previous reports about suspected abuse and neglect. None of them was substantiated.”

The Kansas Department for Children and Families used to have three categories of findings – unsubstantiated, substantiated and validated.

The “validated” finding, which was used from 1997 to 2004, meant the incident was severe enough to add the perpetrator’s name to a registry. Substantiated meant that the evidence showed the incident occurred but wasn’t severe enough to place the person on the registry.

Schunn wishes Kansas still had “validated” as a child abuse finding.

“To me, the general public has a presumption that it’s unfounded,” she said of reports of child abuse deemed unsubstantiated by the DCF.”

Here’s how Kansas child abuse laws stack up against other states:

1. Clear and convincing: Kansas

2. Credible: District of Columbia, Illinois, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma

3.  Probable cause: Arizona

4.  Preponderance: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania*, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming

5.  Reasonable: Hawaii, Massachusetts, Oregon, Utah, Vermont

And while we’re on the subject, April is Child Abuse Prevention Month.

Maybe it’s time Kansas pols get in step with the rest of the country – even if it does cost the Kansas City Chiefs a trip to the Super Bowl this February.