That seems to be the position of the Georgia General Assembly, which has repeatedly failed to provide the funding necessary to boost salaries, reduce caseloads and update technology in child protective services agencies. The state still isn't using a statewide computerized database that can instantly alert a Department of Family and Children Services worker in South Georgia that a family reported for abuse has a prior history in North Georgia. The GBI findings underscore the lack of accountability in an agency where policy breaches can be fatal. All of us are concerned that some of these caseworkers who had so blatantly violated policy had been reassigned to work with children again. Over the last decade, Atlanta Constitution reporter Jane O. Hansen has published several heartbreaking stories about dead babies who fell through cracks in the child welfare system.
Readers express outrage, politicians pass laws and everybody assumes the problem is solved.
No, we didn't. Our continuing failure to adequately protect the state's most vulnerable citizens is the real crime. When the dust settles, we will still have a tattered safety net that allows too many children to fall through.