Child abuse database launched

6-11-17 Indiana:

GREENFIELD — A database that launched this week lists the names of people convicted of child abuse in the last five years.

State officials hope the new child abuse and neglect registry will become the tool parents use to ensure their children are cared for by someone trustworthy.

The online registry is similar to one listing convicted sex offenders.

Parents can search people by name at public.courts.in.gov (click on the link for the child abuse registry).

A person’s name will appear in the search results if they’ve been convicted of child neglect, battery or sexual assault against a child or child selling — crimes that statistics show are being reported more regularly throughout the state.

Child abuse and neglect cases are up nearly 20 percent statewide, according to the Indiana Department of Child Services.

In 2016, the agency handled 241 cases in which a Hancock County child had been neglected or abused, compared with 186 cases in 2015, according to department records. ..Continued..

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Indiana Senate unanimously passes legislation to create child abuse registry

2-12-16 Indiana:

Database would be similar to sex offender registry

INDIANA —New legislation is making its way through the Indiana General Assembly to create an online public registry for convicted child abusers.

Indiana State Sen. Carlin Yoder authored the bill known as Kirk's Law in honor of a 19-month-old boy who died under the care of his babysitter in Northern Indiana.

The Senate unanimously passed the bill 49-0. It is currently in the House, recently referred to the Committee on Courts and Criminal Code.

"Lots of perpetrators are very good at being perpetrators and gain the trust of parents and children and everything, so it's really hard to find perpetrators," Sarah Brichto said.

Brichto is the executive director of the Children's Advocacy Center of Southeast Indiana. She works primarily with victims of child abuse and supports creating an online registry.

"Lots of times, they feel guilty because it's a parent's job to protect their children and lots of parents feel like they weren't up to the task or somehow failed," Brichto said.

The online database would be similar to the state sex offender registry and run by the Indiana State Police.

"It's really smart because the sexual offender registry, it works," Brichto said. "People, offenders will do almost anything to not get on that list because people really pay attention to that."

In Kentucky, Jennifer Diaz is working on creating Sophie's Law after her daughter Sophie was abused by the babysitter when she was six months old.

"I can't take away the fact that that woman hurt my child, I can't erase that and that's painful," Diaz said.

Diaz is still in the early stages of contacting doctors, prosecutors and lawmakers to author a bill, but she is willing to do the work to help protect other children.

"I don't want that to happen to any other child," Diaz said. "If I can prevent that from happening just by creating this registry and having everyone who's ever been convicted of child abuse on this registry, I'm hoping that's going to prevent them people from working with any children." ..Source.. by Emily Wood

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Indiana Senate approves bill that would create child abuse registry

2-4-16 Indiana:

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The Indiana Senate has passed a bill that would create a public registry of people convicted of child abuse or neglect.

The bill that would create a list similar to online sex-offender registries was passed by the Senate on Wednesday on a 49-0 vote. The bill was inspired by the death of 19-month-old Kirk Coleman who died of a brain injury in 2014 while being cared for by a baby-sitter who had previously pleaded guilty to child neglect. She is awaiting trial on a charge of felony battery resulting in death.

State Sen. Carlin Yoder authored the bill. The Republican from Middlebury calls it one more tool for parents to help assure the safety of their children.

The bill now goes to the House. ..Source.. by WHAS11.com

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Arizona grandmother working to create child abuser registry

9-16-2014 Arizona:

An Arizona grandmother adopted her four grandchildren after her violent son-in-law nearly killed the youngest when she was five months old.

Now 2 years old, Aubre Salinas-Lama won't grow up the same as other kids.

In December of 2012, Aubre's father Daniel Salinas Lama shook her so violently she almost died.

"The first 14 days, she was on life support at the PICU at Phoenix Children's," said grandmother Shannon Rangel. "The seizure activity was so bad we didn't know if she would even survive the seizures."

Born four pounds, nine ounces at 33 weeks, little Aubre had beaten the odds once already.

"The day that David shook her, everything changed," said Rangel.

Salinas-Lama will be locked up for the next 10 years. After four months, little Aubre was home from the hospital. Doctors, however, told Shannon and her husband that Aubre would likely live with them until the day they die.

"They (child abusers) can go to prison, get out, have a new wife, new girlfriend, have more children, and there's no one there to monitor what their previous crime had been," said Rangel.

Rangel and her husband Earnest, a former corrections officer, live in Window Rock. They are lobbying politicians and other people with influence.

They want to create a child abuse registry, much like a sex offender registry, so an abuser's misdeeds will follow them wherever they go for the rest of their lives.

"I think there should be someone who's ready to stand up and fight against them and get the laws changed so we can protect our children better," said Rangel. ..Continued.. by Adam Longo

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Lawmaker seeks new registry for child abusers

12-2-2010 Michigan:

December 01, 2010 - Legislation recently introduced in the Michigan House of Representatives would create a statewide registry for convicted child abusers and set punishments for offenders who don't comply with registration procedures.

House Bills (HBs) 6568 and 6569, introduced as a tie-barred pair last week, would force convicted child abusers to register with local law enforcement agencies and create a graduated system of jail sentences for failure to register.

The bills' sponsor, state Rep. John Espinoza (D-Croswell), said the idea for the legislation came out of an incident in Port Huron where a toddler was found to be physically abused by both her mother and her father. Both had been charged with the crime, but during the investigation of the case it was found that the father had been a person of interest in another child abuse case.

"The father hadn't been charged, but he was confronted by officers in a case where a child had died under suspicious circumstances," he said.

According to Espinoza, there's a great mechanism in place for tracking people who have been convicted of being sexual predators, but nothing of the kind exists for convicted child abusers. He said his legislation would give law enforcement officials a way of keeping tabs on these abusers and give residents a tool for keeping an eye on situations they suspect might be abusive. Hopefully, he said, a registry would keep a situation like the one in Port Huron from happening again.

Still, Espinoza said he's aware of the problems inherent in creating broadsword legislation when a scalpel is the tool that's called for. Criticisms of the state's sex offender registry have pointed out that some people have landed on that list for activities that don't exactly rise to the level of sexually predatory behavior.

"You're not going to get arrested for spanking your child," Espinoza said. "You have to get convicted of child abuse. Giving a kid a swat on the butt for crossing the street the wrong way — the swat on the butt I got — is not going to get you on the list."

He said a spanking is different from abuse and the two can't be categorized the same way. He said he was concerned that the legislation not be too broad so that incidents like verbal abuse — which can certainly be seen as a red flag of abuse elsewhere — isn't a way to get on a child abuse list.

Espinoza is term-limited and said the likelihood of a non-emergency bill clearing the House and Senate before the end of the lame-duck legislative session is slim.

"Hopefully I can convince the legislators who are coming back to pursue this in the new session," he said. ..Source.. Alex Lundberg

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