Evans, R. (2020, September 15). We should not just accept deaths like Sabrina’s and Natalie’s. Iowa Capital Dispatch. https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2020/09/15/we-should-not-just-accept-deaths-like-sabrinas-and-natalies/
The failure of state child welfare agencies to intervene in crisis situations exposes vulnerable children to physical abuse, overlooked sexual abuse, and severe emotional abuse, which results in permanent psychological damage and personal injury. Written by Randy Evans from Iowa Capital Dispatch, this article talks about the systemic and deadly failures of the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) to protect children from extreme neglect, showing the heartbreaking, entirely preventable deaths of three girls over twenty years. 2-year-old Shelby Duis in 2000, 16-year-old Natalie Finn in 2016, and 16-year-old Sabrina Ray in 2017. Sabrina Ray, who was found starved to 56 pounds and padlocked in a room, lived with adoptive parents who somehow maintained a state-licensed daycare and foster home despite having 11 prior child abuse allegations. Natalie Finn starved to death at just 66 pounds after authorities ignored reports of her begging for food in public, and Shelby Duis suffered fatal trauma while living with a methamphetamine-addicted mother. Citing a 146-page September 2020 report from the Iowa Office of Ombudsman titled “Misplaced Trust,” Evans emphasized that in all these cases, concerned citizens and contractors tried to alert authorities, but DHS supervisors silenced them, failed to properly document tips, and blindly accepted the abusers’ excuses. Evans points out that the Child Fatality Review Committee, which the Iowa Legislature explicitly created twenty years ago following Shelby’s death to investigate these exact types of systemic child welfare failures, has never met a single time since its inception, proving the lack of accountability from state policymakers even as child abuse deaths reach record highs.