When something is of value to you, you pay close attention to it. That's why Wal-Mart knows where a pair of shoes are from the time they leave the factory in China until they pass the cash register. They matter. But we don't do the same for children.

Bill Number:  HB 736 / SB 284

Brief Description:  Expands the Virginia Child Protection Accountability System to include data on how courts are responding to crimes against children.  

Background:
In 2009, PROTECT won a groundbreaking victory with passage of the Virginia Child Protection System. But opposition from many in the child protection and justice systems left just data from the social services reported. In 2010, PROTECT is back to expand this beginning, with legislation to give citizens access to data from Virginia's criminal courts.

Official Virginia Child Protection and Accountability System website .

More Detail:
Children enter the great maw of the child protection and justice system and are too often simply lost. We send vulnerable boys and girls into bureaucracies so big and tough they bring adults to their knees. Yet, the bright sunshine of accountability rarely follows.

Sunshine is one of the most important reforms possible to advance child protection. Yet, in 2009, all 50 states still wait for a successful accountability model, one that will give citizens the information they need to know how their public servants are doing when it comes to their most sacred obligation.

Asking public systems to open themselves to greater transparency and accountability is not easy. It's far more challenging than just putting another law on the books.