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Panel approves bill to speed public reporting and legislative review of child fatalities
Summary
The Family and Children Services committee voted unanimously to advance House Bill 12‑57, amended to add Representative Lauer’s language aligning state reporting with federal CAPTA timelines and requiring summaries within 90 days. Survivors and former caseworkers urged the change, citing gaps in DCS fatality reports.
The Family and Children Services committee advanced House Bill 12‑57 on a 9‑0 roll call after adding language from Representative Lauer to align Indiana’s child‑fatality summaries with federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) expectations and to shorten public reporting timelines.About a dozen witnesses and advocates urged the committee to pass the bill, saying current reports are often too late or too brief to allow lawmakers and the public to learn from system failures.
Representative McGuire opened the discussion saying the bill is designed to break the ‘‘box’’ of confidentiality that prevents legislators from seeing how and why…
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