Legislation to Protect Missouri Children Moves to the House

This week, I was pleased to see Senate Bill 341 receive final approval from the Senate and make its way to the House for consideration.  This is the first, of what I hope to be many, of my bills to pass out of the Senate. This measure would establish procedures for reporting juveniles who have committed sexual abuses against other juveniles.

Earlier this year, it was brought to my attention that a constituent of mine has been dealing with their child being sexually abused by another child. She went on to tell me of the large amounts of money she has spent in the courts in order to ensure her child’s safety. After I introduced SB 341, I found out about two similar situations in the senate district.

Upon looking into Missouri law, I found issues in our legal and social services systems that allows children to fall through the cracks. This creates a situation where children are hurting other children in a sexual manner and neither side is receiving the help they desperately need. This also results in one response for children being sexually assaulted by adults, and another different and completely inadequate response for children who are being assaulted in the same manner by other children.

The system in which Missouri’s children are protected from sexual predators is flawed and severely needs to be revised. A gap exists in reporting and assessing situations in which a juvenile is sexually abused by another juvenile. This legislation would provide the Children’s Division the ability to intervene in these specific cases.

Currently, the process for a juvenile expressing problem sexual behaviors is: A non-care taker report is generated and then given to local law enforcement agencies; in some jurisdictions it is passed onto the on-duty juvenile officer. However, in far too many cases, these instances are not deemed a criminal offense. Investigations are declined and protective services are rarely initiated.

The Children’s Division does not investigate or provide a family assessment in cases where the alleged perpetrator does not have care, custody and control, which is a statutory requirement in order for the division to investigate or provide services to families. Senate Bill 341 would still allow the Children’s Division, upon receiving a report concerning a juvenile with problem sexual behavior, to immediately communicate a report to the appropriate law enforcement officials. More importantly, this act would also remove the statutory requirement where the alleged perpetrator is required to have care, custody and control in order for the Children’s Division to investigate.

It is vital that we mandate a system that allows authorities to appropriately intervene with children who are expressing problem sexual behaviors. If we act now, we could help prevent generations of child sexual abuse. In many cases, the juvenile that is committing the offense has often times been sexually abused themselves. These children are in desperate need of a positive, therapeutic response that would allow them the opportunity to overcome these abusive patterns. 

Recent research has shown juveniles with problem sexual behaviors have tremendous rehabilitative potential. The Joint Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect has found this a key issue to help protect children, and it is time our state improves a system that can identify and treat these young offenders. It is our obligation to provide all Missouri children with protection and the opportunity for a normal, happy life.