From the State House: Rep. Wood explains child abuse standards bill

March 28, 2024  |  By Rep. Theresa Wood 

It was good to see folks during Town Meeting, an opportunity I always appreciate! When we returned to the State House the looming deadline of crossover was upon us. This is the date by which all policy committees must have bills voted out of their committees in order to be considered this year.

One of those bills in my committee, House Human Services, is H.661 — an act relating to child abuse and neglect investigations and substantiation standards and procedures. In reviewing this bill, our committee needed to carefully balance the safety of children and youth, family dynamics, and the impacts of placing a person’s name on the child abuse registry, which can have lifelong economic implications for an individual.

We heard from families directly impacted by decisions made by the state that upon appeal, were overturned by the Human Services Board — all in a process that can take months and sometimes years.  Vermont’s “standard of proof” has been evidence that “would lead a reasonable person to believe that the child has been abused or neglected.” A different standard would then be used upon appeal, resulting in inconsistencies and the potential for significant harm to individuals.  

In H.661 we are proposing a shift to be more in line with national standards and consistent with the standard used on appeal, namely “where there is a preponderance of the evidence necessary to support the allegation.” What this means is that the scales of whether abuse or neglect happened, need to tip over the 50% level — it’s not just based on a “reasonable person.”

This bill will be considered by the full House and then sent to the Senate for consideration.    

Thanks for your continued interest and emails.  It is always an honor and privilege to represent you in Montpelier.

State Rep. Theresa Wood, a Waterbury Democrat, is one of two representatives in the Washington-Chittenden district representing Waterbury, Bolton, Huntington and Buel’s Gore. She chairs the House Committee on Human Services. Reach her at twood@leg.state.vt.us.