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 289 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.