The Rowan County Department of Social Services Board has resolved to create stricter rules requiring pregnant minors to give information about their children’s fathers.
“The Social Services Board wants to take a stand against sexual abuse of our teen-agers in Rowan County,” board member Zell Setzer said at the board’s monthly meeting Tuesday.
“We want these guys to think twice before having sex with these minors, because if they do get her pregnant, they will be prosecuted for it.”
The Rowan County board could set a new precedent for the state if it approves the reporting rules, board member Jeff Morris said.
Currently, when an underage pregnant girl comes to Social Services for assistance, they do not have to give information about the father until after the child’s birth. And the department does not report the case to its own Child Protective Services unit or law enforcement.
But board members disagree with the current policy and want more protection for minors who may have been sexually abused.
Social Services “is an agency that is here to protect the kids we serve ...,” Setzer said. “... If a pregnant 14-year-old girl comes to us asking for help, we should at least find out who that father is just in case he is overage. You never know, she may have been a victim of sexual abuse.”
Board members also want the department to review previous cases of pregnant minors, to see if criminal charges are warranted.
But Social Services Director Sandra Wilkes favors keeping the current policy.
“Our responsibility is to make sure that the minor mother gets the help she needs, and since 1998, we would have interviewed hundreds of minor mothers who have come to us for Medicaid and other supported services,” Wilkes said.
“We do not have a system in place where we can provide names of those mothers or the alleged fathers, and to obtain such a list would involve staff members looking through individual cases. We just don’t have the staff or resources to do that.”
State law considers any child under 18 a minor, board member Morris said. But if someone older than 18 has sex with someone younger than 16, the 18-year-old could be liable for some level of felony sexual offense.
“If we have a case where the female is 17 and the male is 19,” the case might not be as serious, Setzer said. “But if the female is 14, and the guy is 23, the daddy needs to be held responsible.”
The state doesn’t require minor mothers to give information about the fathers prior to birth of the child.
Understanding concerns about confidentiality, board members still want new rules requiring a minor’s case worker to immediately alert the department’s Child Protective Services unit and law enforcement, which would determine if a crime has been committed.
Wilkes said the state’s Department of Health and Human Services does not require divisions within Social Services, including Food Stamps, Work First, Medicaid for pregnant women and child support, to report cases of pregnant minors to Child Protective Services.
Nevertheless, the board asked Wilkes to bring to the board’s March meeting a draft of new rules for reporting suspected child sexual abuse.
Contact Cortney L.Hill at 704-797-4249 or chill@salisburypost.com
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