The state House voted unanimously Wednesday to approve new child welfare regulations in response to the death of a 6-year-old in Charlotte.
Dominique Moody died last December from abuse and neglect even though the issue had been reported to police and social services.
Rep. Carla Cunningham, U-Mecklenburg, is sponsoring the bill with Rep. Allen Chesser, R-Nash. "What is so interesting is that there were five cases — that later went to 13 cases — where people have called in and reported incidents at this residence, and they were all unsubstantiated, and so we don't want that to happen again," Cunningham said.
The bill would create a new six-person Child Welfare Escalation Team at the state level that would investigate reports of abuse and neglect in households deemed "high risk." That team would be separate from county-level social services departments.
"The goal here is to pick up on patterns of behavior and flag activities — or lack of activities — before it has a negative or detrimental impact on a child," Chesser said.
It would also require more training for social workers and stronger documentation of home inspections by child protective services, including photos of the children and their homes. "Unfortunately, that wasn't the case in many of the cases that we reviewed leading into this bill, and so we feel it's important to make sure that activity not only occurs, but is verifiable after the fact," Chesser said.
Social services agencies would also be required to disclose more public data about child fatalities and compile data in a publicly available dashboard detailing "county-level child safety performance indicators."
The bill comes after a House committee held a hearing on Moody's death. Lawmakers say Mecklenburg County agencies failed the child by ignoring warning signs. Police found her starved and beaten after being forced to live in a dog crate.
The bill calls for a study looking at whether counties should have more legal liability when their employees fail state laws and procedures on child welfare.
"I read the report on Dominique, and it's enough to make the biggest, strongest man cry to know what that child endured," House Majority Leader Brenden Jones, R-Columbus, said. "No child should ever, ever have to go through the torment that this blessed little soul went through, so we owe it to her memory, and to her family, and to all the children that get caught up in the process."
The legislation now goes to the Senate.
