Toledo saga shifts to focus on what kids need

In an election year, our Legislature often comes up short in the cooler-heads department.

And yet, amid all the partisan eye-gouging over the closure of the Iowa Juvenile Home for girls in Toledo, some state senators are calling a cease fire. And they may succeed in bringing the focus back to what's best for kids.

Reports of mistreatment of juvenile home residents were uncovered by Disability Rights Iowa last year and hit the pages of The Des Moines Register in July. Restraints and isolation rooms were misused and education programs failed to meet legal standards, according to the investigations. Backers of the home dispute some of those findings.

Gov. Terry Branstad, whose Department of Human Services ran the home, appointed a task force to find ideas to fix it. The task force came up with some thoughtful strategies, but the governor shut down the home.

Clearly, Branstad believes he made the best decision to protect remaining girls at the home. His critics disagree. Toledo area officials and former juvenile home employees decried the decision. The union representing those workers, and its Democratic allies in the Legislature, filed a lawsuit aiming to reopen the facility. A judge ruled that Branstad exceeded his authority, and the Iowa Supreme Court is preparing to weigh in.

But what has bothered me most about the closure isn't lost jobs or exceeded powers. It's that closure got us off the hook. Instead of owning up to what a state facility did on our behalf to our kids, and how oversight at all levels seemed to fail, we nearly got to walk away and simply change the subject. Problems? Too bad. Nothing to see here, now.

Then, the saga became entangled with election-year politics, where thoughtful and responsible are generally among the very first casualties.

Now, we've got another chance, thanks to a bill making headway in the Senate. It would create a secure facility for girls judged by the courts to be delinquent and in need of a correctional training school setting. It would not house children in need of assistance, who were mixed with delinquent girls at Toledo.

The facility would be operated by the state, and it would be accredited. But the bill makes no mention of Toledo, or any location. That's a hard pill for the community and former employees to swallow, I know. But it lets us get back to a basic discussion of what Iowa kids really need, and whether a fresh start at a new location is most appropriate.

“We need to take care of delinquent girls, and make sure there is a good placement for them, that it's as positive an experience as we can make it and that we're addressing their behaviors,” said Sen. Liz Mathis, D-Cedar Rapids, who has had input on the bill.

“The state needs to make sure that, wherever this place might be, there needs to be good leadership, excellent training, and that there's support for that training,” Mathis said.

Those are key issues. And the bill is the start of a much-needed, cooler conversation. If the Supreme Court sides with the district judge and says the governor can't go it alone, it's a conversation Branstad will need to join. Even if he wins in court, he should work this out with lawmakers. There's still plenty to see here.