Lawmakers grapple with increased child neglect caseloads during divided discussion on new bill

Lawmakers talk with reporters on Feb. 9 after a judge ruled Amendment A, which would have permitted recreational marijuana in South Dakota, is unconstitutional. Courtesy: SDPB
Lawmakers talk with reporters on Feb. 9 after a judge ruled Amendment A, which would have permitted recreational marijuana in South Dakota, is unconstitutional. Courtesy: SDPB
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A shortage of volunteer court-appointed special advocates in child abuse and neglect cases is tying up South Dakota's court systems, which state court officials fear may be leaving some kids in a "state of limbo."

On Monday, state court administrator Greg Sattizahn asked lawmakers of the Judiciary Committee to consider a bill that would free courts of a "stringent requirement" to appoint a court-appointed special advocate volunteer or lawyer in child abuse and neglect cases.

The court-appointed special advocate program is commonly called CASA.

Lawmakers decided to defer after divided discussion on the bill to Jan. 31, with Rep. Ryan Cwach, D-Yankton, the only lawmaker that rejected the motion.

"It's really a response to the demand on those positions," said Sattizahn during a first reading of the measure.

Courts' need for child advocates 'outpacing' staffing bandwidth, leaving kids in 'limbo'

The bill is a symptom of a larger problem: the state-wide number of abuse and neglect cases is "far outpacing" the number of CASA volunteers on hand, Sattizahn told lawmakers at the meeting. In 2020, 605 children were on the waiting list to get representation from CASA. In 2021, that number was 564, in addition to the over 600 children CASA served separate from the waitlist.

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"For cases where [CASA volunteers] are not available, abuse and neglect cases need to proceed to finality very quickly because that child is going to be in a state of limbo," Sattizahn said during the meeting, speaking about pressures on courts to work through limited bandwidth.

Currently, South Dakota law requires judges to appoint a trained child advocate from the state's Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children (CASA) program, or a guardian ad litem in cases of child abuse and neglect.

While a special advocate from CASA is typically a trained individual who works with children and makes case recommendations to the court or guardian at litem, the guardian at litem is a lawyer that provides additional legal representation for children in instances of an express wish of what should happen to them, or an appointed lawyer is advocating adversely to their client, Sattizahn explained.

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That's separate from the lawyer initially appointed to a case involving child neglect and abuse. Sattizahn says the extra requirement for a special advocate or guardian at litem in these cases add costly expenses and delays/resets to court proceedings, and potential issues in appeal.

"We have to respond to [this] in one or two ways," said Sattizahn. "Either the statutes are amended, so the judge makes the decision on what needs to happen or who should be appointed. Or we're going to have to find a way to get CASA the ability to serve two times the number of children they're serving now, or we're going to appoint guardians ad litem in those cases."

Lawmakers vote 12-1 to come up with a 'better solution' by Jan. 31

Several lawmakers of the committee were troubled by the proposed legislation. Although Rep. Mike Stevens, R-Yankton, agreed the increased caseloads and limited inventory of CASA advocates is putting South Dakota's Unified Judicial System in a "rock and a hard place" and costs would be shifted to the counties if the bill passed, the Republican lawmaker didn't see the funding part as the committee's responsibility to take on.

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"I don't think anybody thinks this is the absolute best," said Stevens. "But under the circumstances, I think it is the best at this time."

Other lawmakers, like Rep. Peri Pourier, D-Pine Ridge, urged the committee to resist an earlier motion to approve the measure and, instead, motioned to defer to Jan. 31 to come up with a better solution to address the gap in responding to child abuse and neglect cases.

"It's not our responsibility to fund our children?," Pourier asked during the meeting. "These are kids, I can't be the only one that's in here wondering what the heck we can do."

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Cwach agreed the committee should focus more on the funding piece, adding his concern about taking additional representation provided by current law away from children in these cases and leaving it up to the child's attorney.

The motion to defer discussions was seconded by Stevens, and passed with a majority vote. Cwach, the only dissenting vote from the rest of the committee, said he rejected the motion to send a message to the legislature and judiciary to get the proper funding needed to tackle this issue, and to prevent the funding responsibility fall onto counties, local court systems and community donors.

Email human rights reporter Nicole Ki at nki@argusleader.com or follow on Twitter at @_nicoleki.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Child abuse, neglect caseloads "far outpacing" staffing: Officials