Child Abuse Bill Denounced At Public Hearing Committee Chairwoman Says Bill Narrowing Definition Unlikely To Go Anywhere This Session

Democrats and child abuse workers on Friday condemned a Republican effort to narrow the legal definition of what constitutes child abuse.

Rep. Bill Backlund, R-Redmond, said the changes are needed to protect parents from false accusations. He said the narrower definition would help weed out flimsy cases and help child abuse investigators focus on more substantial ones.

But his proposal, HB2399, was soundly denounced at a hearing by the House Children and Family Services Committee, prompting Chairwoman Suzette Cooke, R-Kent, to say it probably won’t get any further this year.

House Democrats held a news conference before the hearing, inviting child abuse workers and hospital officials to speak against the proposal.

“It is a sad day when we ask that Washingtonians - you and I - raise our level of tolerance for abuse and neglect,” Debbie Ruggles, director of the Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs, told reporters.

“There are all kinds of abuse that will be permitted under this law,” said Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, D-Seattle, at the press conference, which preceded a public hearing on the bill in the House Children and Family Services Committee.

At the hearing, Dickerson started tempers flaring when she held up photos of toddlers with bruised faces and black eyes, saying that such treatment would be legalized by Backlund’s proposal.

Backlund called her display “grandstanding” and said his bill would not permit such treatment.

The tension continued when Rep. Mike Carrell, R-Tacoma, said Child Protective Services workers don’t have the “training or the track record” to conduct fair investigations of child abuse.

That remark angered Rep. Kip Tokuda, D-Seattle, who was once a CPS worker himself. He accused Carrell of impugning the people who work for the agency.

“I think history speaks for itself,” Carrell shot back.

Backlund was investigated by CPS 15 years ago after he and his wife spanked a foster child they had planned to adopt with a switch, a Ping-Pong paddle, a door shim and a wooden spoon. CPS became concerned because the child had been physically abused before being placed in the Backlund’s care. CPS removed the child from the Backlund home for three weeks.

Backlund’s proposal would change the standards used by hospital workers and child care professionals to determine whether they should report suspected abuse to authorities. Child abuse is currently defined as injury or mistreatment that could harm the child’s “health, welfare and safety.”

HB2399 would narrow the definition to injuries that create a “substantial risk” of death or “protracted” loss of the functions of bodily organs. It would also change the wording so that abuse could only be reported if there is “probable cause” for believing such abuse has occurred as opposed to “reasonable cause” in current law.

Dr. Ted Walkley, director of emergency pediatric services at Mary Bridge Hospital in Tacoma, said the narrower definition would cut by 75 percent the number of cases of suspected child abuse reported to law enforcement agencies by the hospital.

“We have a system that works,” Walkley said.

Following the hearing, Cooke said she would rather not act on the bill this year. She said the issue may be studied by a task force after the session ends in March.