Committee: Child abuse prevention working

By Shavonne Potts

spotts@salisburypost.com

About 12 years ago, 25 law enforcement workers, health care providers and government leaders got together to examine the workings of the county's child abuse prevention network.

In 1997, the Rowan County Task Force for Child Abuse Prevention Community Protocol was formed. Today, the Law Enforcement Protocol Committee determines whether the agencies involved, which include the Rowan County Department of Social Services and law enforcement, respond properly.

Rowan County District Attorney Bill Kenerly was one of the original 25 task force members. He attended a committee meeting to discuss how far the effort has progressed.

Kenerly said the partnership between the agencies and the protocol committee works.

He said the originators of the committee spent nights and weekends trying to establish "a formal method of handling things and making sure those things didn't happen again."

Currently there are 3,000 pending cases in Rowan County Superior Court. There are five assistant district attorneys who handle those, which leaves each one with about 600 cases at a given time.

Before a case comes to court, it goes through the hands of several people, many of whom work for agencies that are part of the protocol committee.

When Social Services investigates a report of abuse or neglect and finds no such abuse, people can appeal that finding.

The district attorney's office handles those appeals and receives about one a month. Kenerly explained there are times when, in order to understand the case, he goes back to the original child protective services investigator.

"The DA's office is charged with making the final decision. I want your input about the charges," Kenerly said to committee members.

Protocol committee member LaVaughn Beaver, with Rowan Regional Medical Center, asked Kenerly if he saw a trend in the cases he handles now compared to those 15 years ago.

"It seems that cases are less severe. It seems to me things are better," Kenerly said.

He spoke about a Kannapolis case several years ago in which a caretaker burned a baby with boiling water.

Kenerly said he's not seen the level of brutality in recent cases he saw in that case.

The Law Enforcement Protocol Committee meets quarterly to discuss cases that are being handled by Social Services, law enforcement, the court system and other partner agencies. The committee receives questions from those agencies about whether each agency involved in an abuse or neglect case followed procedures. They also come up with new guidelines to make the process easier.

"The protocol is a huge change from 1997 as a system, from my point-of-view — it works," Kenerly said.