BY NATASHA ASHE
SALISBURY POST

Gov. Jim Hunt wants the state to allocate an extra $11 million for a ‘‘Safe Kids’’ initiative to help foster children and reduce child abuse.

And on Thursday, the House gave initial approval to a bill making penalties tougher on child abusers.

State child advocates say the proposals are the latest in a long list of child protection reforms spurred by the 1997 abuse deaths of three Rowan County children and ensuing questions about the work of the Rowan County Department of Social Services.

The questions brought internal changes to the Rowan County department as well as more personnel with extra state funding.

And Sandra Wilkes, new director of the Rowan County Department of Social Services, said she hopes the latest state initiatives will further reduce child abuse cases in the area.

Hunt’s ‘Safe Kids’ initiative could help Rowan County’s foster children tremendously.

‘‘Hunt’s plan is a genuine commitment to the needs of children,’’ Wilkes said. ‘‘We are very excited about it. I think it will be a while before all the details are worked out, but we are all pleased with the commitment he (Hunt) has shown to our community, especially with Smart Start.’’

Hunt’s plan, which will be funded through federal dollars and will require no new state dollars, calls for recruiting, training and licensing more foster and adoptive families.

Hunt said he wants to hire 120 more workers to find and train 8,500 foster and adoptive parents.

‘‘Though we don’t know what type of funding each county might get from this, it sounds like it will require additional staff,’’ Wilkes said.

‘‘We need to continually add foster homes. That’s part of where the focus of the money should be with more training and licensing for foster and adoptive families.’’

The Rowan County department now has 194 children in its custody, Wilkes said, and about 67 licensed foster homes, though more are enrolled in classes.

In the other initiative, the House tentatively approved a law in which child abusers who cause serious injuries could face more than three years in prison.

Rep. Wayne Goodwin, D-Richmond, said Thursday he was surprised that the state’s sentencing system does not guarantee prison time for child abusers on the first offense.

His bill would guarantee a minimum sentence of 44 months in prison for anyone convicted of abusing a child and causing a ‘‘serious, debilitating injury.’’

‘‘Why would we give anyone who committed such a crime a second chance?’’ Goodwin asked before the bill was unanimously approved. A final vote was delayed so wording in the bill could be fixed.

Wilkes pointed out that Social Services has placed a Child Protective Services social worker at the Sheriff’s Department to work closely in child abuse cases that are reported. She said that cooperative effort grew from the county Child Abuse Task Force, which organized after the deaths of the three children – Budde Clark, Christopher Jones and DeMallon Krider.

In all three of those cases, Social Services workers had investigated complaints about treatment of those children but chose not to remove the children from their homes. State investigators concluded that the department made errors in the case, in part because it was greatly understaffed.

As a result, the legislature:

nReviewed staffing levels statewide and appropriated enough money to hire more than 300 child welfare workers and improved their training. Rowan County got 11 of those workers.

nChanged the laws governing child protection cases to make clear that the child’s safety came first, taking priority over keeping families together.

nPassed a new law requiring Social Services’ departments to report publicly the actions they took in any case where a child died or was seriously injured. In a recent child abuse fatality in Caldwell County, the resulting Social Services report led to the firing of a department worker who did not follow up on an abuse report.

Also in 1997, Hunt’s administration pushed for $911,000 to provide incentives to counties and private adoption agencies to boost their efforts to place children with special needs. In 1998, the General Assembly supported Gov. Hunt adding $1.2 million to expand the North Carolina Families for Kids Program into 12 more counties – including Rowan – helping to get children out of foster care and into adoptive homes by bringing local leaders together to develop action plans.

Last year, 36 children died as a result of child abuse and more than 114,000 suspected child abuse and neglect cases were reported. In addition, more than 11,300 children growing up without a safe, permanent home.