03/05/1997 09:06 AM Senate HES

                                                                               
               HB  45 RUNAWAY AND MISSING MINORS                              
                                                                              
 Number 001                                                                    
                                                                               
  CHAIRMAN WILKEN  called the Senate Health, Education & Social                
 Services Committee (HES) to order at 9:06 a.m. and announced that             
 the meeting scheduled for Friday would be cancelled.  Chairman                
 Wilken introduced  HB 45  as the first order of business.                     
                                                                               
  REPRESENTATIVE KELLY , Prime Sponsor, informed the committee that            
 last year there were a number of bills dealing with juvenile                  
 issues, among those bills was SB 289 which became effective this              
 past September.  SB 289 sought to bring runaways into a protective            
 environment by designating the child as a child in need of aid.  SB
 established a scenario in which a police officer could take               
 custody of a child, bring the child to the parents, and if the                
 parents agreed, the child would be accepted back into the home or             
 placed in a shelter.  The police officer could also decide whether            
 there was an abusive situation in which case the child would be               
 taken to a shelter.  Representative Kelly explained that HB 45 is             
 before the committee because last year HB 387, a rewrite of the               
 juvenile code, separated in statute what constituted a child in               
 need of aid or a delinquent child.  HB 387 took statutes from                 
 Chapter 10 and created Chapter 12 in order to deal with delinquent            
 children in one manner and abused children in another.  When those            
 statutes were moved a key portion of SB 289 was lost.                         
 Representative Kelly said that it was not intended for the statutes           
 to read that a runaway minor must first consent to return home.               
 The main thrust of SB 289 was to place a minor in a safe                      
 environment where monitoring could occur while the court or                   
 department determined what to do.                                             
                                                                               
 Number 125                                                                    
                                                                               
  MONICA OWEN , testifying from Mat-Su, did not agree with the portion         
 of the bill that would allow police to place minors in a shelter or           
 back in the home.  Shelters can be just as bad as the home.  Ms.              
 Owen mentioned that mental abuse as well as physical abuse can                
 occur.                                                                        
                                                                               
  VENESSA GRENUNG , testifying from Mat-Su, agreed with Ms. Owen's             
 testimony.  She mentioned that perhaps a mutual agreement to place            
 the minor in a friend's house could occur.                                    
                                                                               
  ANGELA SALERNO , Executive Director for the National Association of          
 Social Workers, said that HB 45 has a flaw regarding the language             
 pertaining to the officer's decision whether or not to bring a                
 minor home.  Ms. Salerno believed that in this case caution should            
 be taken.  Police officer's are not qualified to assess the                   
 presence of physical or sexual abuse.  HB 45 could be improved by             
 changing the language to "cause to suspect physical or sexual                 
 abuse."  National research reports that 60-75 percent of runaways             
 report serious physical abuse, furthermore sexual abuse is higher             
 among young women.  The 1988 Governor's Interim Commission on                 
 Children and Youth in Alaska reported that at least two-thirds of             
 runaway youth say they have been abused at home.  Each year in                
 Alaska, there are 3,575 cases of abuse which have been verified.              
 Ms. Salerno believed that the state could be opened up to some                
 liabilities with the current language; liability, if a minor is               
 returned to the home and suffers a serious injury or worse from the           
 parents.  Ms. Salerno was concerned with dysfunctional families.              
                                                                               
 Number 201                                                                    
                                                                               
  REPRESENTATIVE KELLY  said that police officers are recognized in            
 statute as persons with a level of authority and experience in                
 determining child abuse.  Police officers are trained and must                
 report such abuse.                                                            
                                                                               
  ANGELA SALERNO  agree with Representative Kelly's comment regarding          
 the physical manifestations of abuse, however sexual abuse is                 
 another matter.  Ms. Salerno clarified that her testimony referred            
 to sexual abuse.                                                              
                                                                               
  CHAIRMAN WILKEN  asked Ms. Salerno if her suggestion was to change           
 the word "believe" to "suspect" on page 1, line 14.  He asked Ms.             
 Salerno if she wanted the officer to take the child for an advanced           
 interview to determine whether a problem exists at home.   ANGELA             
 SALERNO  replied yes.  If the police officer suspected child abuse,           
 the officer would be compelled to report that abuse to DFYS and               
 take the child to a safe environment.                                         
                                                                               
 In response to Chairman Wilken,  REPRESENTATIVE KELLY  specified that         
 he had referred to Title 47 Chapter 17.020.                                   
                                                                               
  SENATOR GREEN  moved to report HB 45 out of committee with                   
 individual recommendations and accompanying fiscal notes.  Without            
 objection, it was so ordered.