Column: DHS case exposes serious concerns

There's little question that the state should intervene when parents aren't taking care of their children.

But how and when and why are important questions that aren't easily answered.

It's a tough line to walk between respecting families and protecting kids.

So procedures designed to guide social workers as they walk it must be as clear and precise as a surgeon's scalpel.

We might be in for an interesting discussion about some of them after a court case was filed against the Department of Human Services last week in Johnson County.

Jessica Wilbur, of Guernsey, is suing DHS Director Charles Krogmeier and a local DHS abuse investigator for taking her 5-year-old daughter without her knowledge or consent late last year and placing the girl with a paternal aunt.

She wants the department to stop allowing non-custodial parents to voluntarily place their children into foster care, and she's asked for a jury.

I hope the case does go to trial, so we can get some answers about Wilbur's allegations, which are horrific:

Wilbur says while she was out of state last November, Izabella's non-custodial father (the two never were married) took the girl for the weekend, but he didn't return her.

Instead, he called DHS to say he suspected the girl had been sexually abused.

An examination proved that wasn't the case; still, DHS didn't return the child. The agency placed her in foster care on the father's signature, even though he never has had any formal parental rights. Later, Wilbur says, DHS placed her with his sister, who isn't a licensed foster care provider.

Because she didn't sign the voluntary placement form, Wilbur couldn't rescind it and get her daughter back. Since Izabella wasn't taken from her by court order, the 20-year-old mother had no right to a hearing or an attorney to help her in the case.

She says DHS wouldn't even return her calls at first. That she didn't get Izabella back until she went to the aunt's house and took the girl.

Wilbur told a Gazette reporter that when she did, her daughter acted like she thought she'd never see her mom again: "She told me she was so scared she couldn't cry." Now, she says DHS is trying to punish her by opening an investigation.

Seems it's the abuse investigator's actions that should be investigated, and DHS policies and procedures.

If it happened like Wilbur said, something's got to change to make sure it never happens again.

Jennifer Hemmingsen's column appears on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Contact the writer at (319) 339-3154 or jennifer.hemmingsen@gazcomm.com