Iowa lawmakers question child welfare protections

DES MOINES - An Iowa teenager brought spectators to tears Monday as she recounted a heart-wrenching tale of her years of abuse as a foster child that one legislator said points out weaknesses in the state's child welfare protections.

Malayia Knapp, 18, told members of the Legislature's Government Oversight Committee how she was beaten at her Urbandale foster home and locked up - many times without food - with her sister in a small basement room behind a steel door.

'I was afraid to talk with anyone,” she testified, including describing a choking situation where she feared for her life. 'It didn't seem like there was any help.”

Knapp said the abuse and punishment spanned years until she was able to escape and convince police and the state Department of Human Services about the improper treatment and conditions.

Eventually, said Sen. Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines, a misdemeanor assault charge was brought against Knapp's adoptive mother but other children stayed in the home.

Knapp's account, McCoy said, plus a recent situation where Natalie Finn, 16, of West Des Moines, suffered cardiac arrest from emaciation after being denied critical care, has raised concerns whether the state's child welfare officials are 'taking the right steps” to safeguard children when abuse is reported.

'This process started because too many Iowa children are falling through the cracks,” he said of Monday's informal hearing attended by House and Senate Democrats who are on the joint oversight panel. 'The state system to protect them has been pushed beyond capacity.”

McCoy said he has questions and concerns about the vetting of parents before children are adopted from foster care, the impact of reducing the Iowa Department of Human Services workforce by about 800 since 2011 and whether Iowa's home-schooling rules have adequate oversight to protect children who may have no contact with the school system.

'We must analyze the current policies and procedures and make the necessary changes,” he said during Monday's hearing.

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