The child protection system fails in protecting those who cannot do so themselves. The rise in screened-out child abuse cases, pushes Minnesota to becoming the third highest in the country. This brings a concern for many children.

In a 2012 Child Maltreatment report done by the U.S Department of Health & Human Services  and the Child’s Bureau, around 46,000 child abuse cases have been screened-out. These reports were screened-out with information from only a phone call or a fax, and this is not a result of budgetary issues or too many cases, but rather lack of threshold.

Child Welfare defines child abuse or neglect as “any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker that results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation.”

Cases such as Eric Deans, a three year old, exhibit these characteristics. He had 15 reports filed for him, nine of which were screened-out. He died from being hit so hard by his mother that his small intestines punctured, and eventually he choked from his own vomit.

If Deans’ reports were not enough to meet the threshold, the problem is not the lack of reports but rather an issue in the system.

In a Star Tribune article, Sen. Jeff Hayden, DFL-Minneapolis, talks about the vast differences between what each county does, in comparison to one another.

He said this in response to a bill going through legislation that would require counties to keep a record of screened-out reports.

If counties cannot heed to the same rules in child protection than the only award Minnesota will be winning is number one is child abuses cases.

The entire child protection system doesn’t need to be changed but rather their mindsets, so rather than pointing out they don’t have threshold, they should do more to see the truth.

Bill such as requiring counties to keep a record of screened-out reports would be one little thing that can make a big difference. By doing so, it would appear in the system and this would make it simpler to spot recurring reports.

Another solution is to screen-out reports from more than a phone call, but rather do their job and actually investigate.