All the laws in the world won't protect children if they're never used. And all of our best intentions to protect children will be wasted if we don't care enough to take a second look at how we're doing. Bill Number: House Bill 2765 , Senate Bill 2701 Brief Description: Creates the “Tennessee Second Look Commission” to examine cases of children who were victimized twice due to the system’s failure to protect to find out what went wrong and how it can be prevented in the future.
Update: VICTORY! More updates below.
Detailed Description: PROTECT passed legislation in Tennessee creating a Tennessee Second Look Commission. This independent panel of experts, together with lawmakers and citizens, has the legal authority to closely examine cases where children known to the child protection system have been re-abused.
11/9/2010: The first TN Second Look Commission meeting was held Oct. 29th at the legislature in Nashville. PROTECT's Executive Director, Grier Weeks, is a commission member and reports that this independent commission is beginning the examination of cases occurring over the past year where a child known to the state Department of Children's Services was abused a second time. Of the more than 200 cases listed, the most pertinent cases will be selected for detailed investigation. The commission will have full access to all records pertaining to each case in order to determine what went wrong and what needs to be changed. The bill that PROTECT succeeded in passing came out of the work of Promise to Protect, which has been researching what steps are necessary to create more transparency and accountability in both federal and state systems.
9/24/2010: We are proud to announce that our director Grier Weeks has been appointed to Tennessee's new Second Look Commission, representing Promise to Protect. When PROTECT was working for passage of the Second Look Commission bill, Grier said, "All the laws in the world won't protect children if they're never used. And all of our best intentions to protect children will be wasted if we don't care enough to take a second look at how we're doing." The commission will examine cases of children who have been re-abused because of failures in the system's duty to protect the child. The commission will make recommendations, covering many different areas, to the general assembly so that improvements can be made. Some of the areas to be examined are:
The reporting, investigating and referring of alleged severe child abuse cases by state agencies and others.
The risk of severe child abuse victims being returned to the custody of the child's abuser or placed by the state in an environment where the child is at risk of being abused a second or subsequent time.
The procedures used by juvenile courts and courts exercising jurisdiction over criminal and civil child abuse, neglect and endangerment cases.
The laws, rules, or guidelines used to determine whether or not an alleged perpetrator of severe child abuse is to be prosecuted.
The causes of severe child abuse in Tennessee and any preventative measures that would reduce the number of severe child abuse cases in the state.
The manner in which severe child abuse data is collected and used by multiple agencies within the state.
The representation provided to severe child abuse victims, including but not limited to, representation provided by attorneys, guardians and advocates.
(Note: The commission does not take requests from the public for examination of individual cases.)
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The National Association to Protect Children is a national, pro-child, anti-crime membership association. We are founded on the belief that our first and most sacred obligation as parents, citizens, and members of the human species is the protection of children from harm.
PROTECT is a bipartisan pro-child, anti-crime lobby whose sole focus is making the protection of children a top political and policy priority at the national, state and local level.
