INDIANAPOLIS (WRTV) — Several new laws will take effect July 1 aimed at better protecting children in Indiana and improving transparency.
House Enrolled Acts 1257 and 1036, as well as Senate Enrolled Act 171, are expected to have a major impact on the child welfare system.
"Kinsleigh's law", or HEA 1036, will require Indiana Department of Child Services case workers to see a child in person within 30 days of closing a case.
Kinsleigh died in 2024 of starvation. Her mother, Toni McClure, is criminally charged in Marion County with murdering Kinsleigh.
Kinsleigh was living with her grandfather, Brian Welty, when the Indiana DCS returned Kinsleigh to her birth mother, Toni McClure.
The move came despite repeated claims McClure was abusing Kinsleigh.
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“I was devastated,” said Welty. “I’ve never felt so hopeless. I’ve never felt so much anger."
DCS could not say much about Kinsleigh's case because they're not allowed to under the current law.
But starting July 1, the state agency will be able to say more.
A new law, HEA 1257, says that within five days of a child’s death or near-death from abuse or neglect, DCS is required to publicly report any current or past involvement with the child.
"WRTV can now reach out, and DCS needs to give that information,” said Rep. Julie McGuire, author of HEA 1257. “It also allows DCS to correct the record if it's wrong. They can now say ‘that's not true, that's not what happened.’"
Currently, DCS shares an annual fatality report, but critics say the release of the report is delayed a year.
For example, the agency just released the 2024 Annual Report of Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities in Indiana.
Starting July 1, DCS must share public summaries on child fatalities throughout the year, including any actions taken by DCS in response to a child’s case.
DCS will also have to overhaul its annual fatality report.
“We've added a ton of information,” said McGuire. "Were calls made to check on a child that went unsubstantiated? We need to know if there was a case where a child became a victim of a fatality, but DCS did not substantiate, or they screened out those calls. We are going to get some of that history."
DCS will also include the names of judges involved with cases where a child ended up dying from abuse or neglect.
Currently, it takes an average of 477 days for a child in the system to find a permanent home, including adoption.
"I've seen kids languish in the system for years and years," said Grant Kirsh, an adoption attorney. "The system is set up to give parents a billion chances to get their life together. Parental rights is a fundamental right protected by the Constitution. I get that, but I think we've taken this way too far."
Senate Enrolled Act 171 aims to address the issue by shortening the time biological parents have to comply with court-ordered services.
"It just takes away the prolonging of the case and keeping these kids languishing in the system for far too long," said Kirsh.
Kirsh emphasizes the new law does not impact parents who are doing what the state asks them to do.
"That's a really important thing to understand that 171 does not take that away from those people," said Kirsh.
Kirsh said one of the most pivotal changes SEA 171 made was not allowing any changes of placement to occur if the foster parents have had placement for 12 or more months and their petitions for adoption have been filed.
"No changes of placement can be made until the adoption court hears the petition for adoption," said Kirsh. "This effectively halted all retaliatory placement changes that were occurring. Kids were being removed from long term placements for a multitude of reasons that were not in the child’s best interest."
Indiana's I-Team is working to sit down with the new DCS director to talk about implementing these new laws.
