Lee Rood

lrood@dmreg.com

One day, the criminal investigation of Nicole and Joe Finn will be over.

Then those in Iowa’s child-welfare system will need to explain what they did or failed to do after they were told 16-year-old Natalie Finn was being abused in her mother’s West Des Moines home — and how siblings adopted out of foster care in that home came to be tortured.

Iowa Department of Human Services officials were among those who expressed sadness this week at Natalie’s death and the arrests Thursday of her parents, Nicole Marie Finn, 42, of West Des Moines and Joseph Michael Finn II, 45, of Urbandale. But “to avoid jeopardizing the criminal prosecution there is no additional information we can share at this time, beyond our condolences,” spokeswoman Amy Lorentzen McCoy said.

Reports of the starvation and torture of children are rare across the United States, let alone in Iowa, child abuse prevention advocates say. Lawmakers are already calling for a formal, more transparent investigation of the case to see if there was criminal negligence beyond the allegations made against the parents.

"There seems to be so many entities and people involved that a grand jury is necessary," Sen. Tony Bisignano, a Des Moines Democrat, said. "All parties (involved) should be sworn under oath as to their actions when first notified."

Natalie's death is also triggering questions about a significant switch made in the way Iowa handles reports of neglect.

Previous Coverage:

In 2014, Human Services began funneling thousands more reported cases of neglect that were perceived to be at lower risk to private providers for services such as parenting classes or counseling.

That freed their most experienced social workers to investigate reports of physical and sexual abuse, as well as the most serious cases of neglect. Formal findings of child abuse plummeted almost 40 percent the year after the change, according to Prevent Child Abuse Iowa.

It meant Human Services would have a friendlier, more helpful relationship with more families. But it also resulted in fewer at-risk families having oversight by experienced social workers, juvenile judges and court-appointed lawyers acting on the behalf of children.

"I said back then, 'It's not a matter of if; it’s a matter of when. And when a child dies, what's the state's response going to be?'" said Mike Sorci, who heads Des Moines' Youth Law Center, which provides legal protection for abused children.

Sorci said he doesn't know specifics yet in the Finn case, but he has had serious concerns with Human Services' decision to stop formally investigating thousands more reports of lower-risk neglect so it can focus more on physical or sexual abuse.

Investigating those reports often leads authorities to learn about more serious abuse, such as malnourished children or chronic drug use by parents.

"Maybe the pendulum needs to start swinging back to child protection, as opposed to providing services to families," Sorci said. "Telling a child who has been abused and neglected that, 'We're going to handle this, as a family,' may make them less likely to tell others."

Since 2014, deaths of children known to the child-welfare system do not appear to be increasing, state officials say.

“We are always looking to improve things,” said Wendy Rickman, Human Services' division administrator of child and family services. “But based on those measures, we’d say we’re doing well.”

But reports of child neglect in Iowa are rising, and Finn’s death is a wake-up call to all Iowans, the head of Prevent Child Abuse Iowa said.

“I wouldn’t lay all the blame on DHS. It takes more than a knock on the door by police, more than a complaint by a neighbor, more than a truancy report at school,” said Liz Cox, who also is a West Des Moines school board member.

Cox, who lives in West Des Moines and drives near the Finns' home almost daily, described details of Natalie's suffering as heartbreaking and shocking. But she said preventing abuse falls on many people.

"I’m sure her neighborhood feels just horrible," Cox said. "But I have a hard time saying this was the fault of any one person. We, as a community, need to take responsibility.”

Cox said Iowa children are not required by law to attend school after turning 16, so Finn’s absence from Walnut Creek Campus this school year would not necessarily have triggered a truancy complaint.

One of the things Cox wants to do now is explore ways the West Des Moines district can better follow up with students who fail to return to school. Another is expanding Iowans’ comfort level in getting involved in cases of suspected abuse.

“This is a message for everyone that you just don’t know what may be going on, and being a caring, compassionate person literally could save someone’s life,” she said.

Siblings adopted, tortured

Nicole Finn and her ex-husband, Joseph Michael Finn II, are scheduled to have a preliminary court hearing Dec. 19 on the charges against them.

Neighbor Becca Gordon, whose son attended alternative school with Natalie, reported troubling signs of abuse and neglect to West Des Moines police on May 31. She said she made the report after Natalie told her that she and her sister had been locked up by their mother for two days without food.

Natalie had asked Gordon, other neighbors and classmates for food, money and clothing, as well as bandages for blisters on her feet when she had no shoes.

Police notified Human Services the same day as Gordon’s call, reports show.

Prosecutors allege in criminal complaints made public Friday that Natalie, her 14-year-old sister and 15-year-old brother were tortured and kidnapped before the teen died of emaciation from neglect.

Under Human Services' protocol, workers should have gone immediately to determine the children's safety if the agency was told the information that Gordon relayed to police, Sorci said.

But Gordon said no Human Services worker contacted her personally about the abuse report she made.

The Finns shared joint custody of five children when they divorced in 2011, after 12 years of marriage, according to court records. One of the children, Alexander Kendal Finn, is an adult. Natalie was the next oldest, followed by two 15-year-old brothers and a 14-year-old sister.

Nicole and Joe received special needs and adoption subsidies from the state to support some of their children.

Joe also was supposed to maintain $10,000 in life insurance for each child that would go to Nicole in the event of any of their deaths, the couple’s divorce decree shows.

Once the children were adopted from state care, they would not have been under regular supervision by Human Services unless a report of serious abuse was made. The parents could have qualified for services if they had gone to Human Services for help.

It’s unclear, however, what information West Des Moines police relayed by phone to Human Services on the day of the neighbor's report, and whether a social worker ever visited the Finns' home after.

Cases of abuse that are investigated by Human Services also are reviewed by prosecutors, physicians, court-appointed guardians ad litem and juvenile judges.

Child deaths steady

The Reader’s Watchdog requested last month any child-abuse reports pertaining to Natalie and other children who died in 2016 after Gordon raised concerns about the investigation in early November.

An Iowa law passed in 2002 requires Human Services to release confidential child-abuse assessments in high-profile death or near-death cases. The law change came in the wake of the abuse and death of Shelby Duis, a Spirit Lake toddler well known to child welfare officials. Her death contributed to child-welfare reforms.

But prosecutors can prohibit the release of those reports while criminal investigations are underway.

The Register's requests for these state assessments are currently under review, but the number of child deaths this year known to the child-welfare system because of alleged abuse appears to be around 13.

More on Shelby Duis:

The number of children known to Human Services who died from abuse or where abuse was a factor has varied in recent years, reaching a high of 28 in 2012.

Rickman said before the changes were made in 2014, most of the cases being weaned from Human Services' oversight would not result in formal abuse findings. But she also said she knew that one abuse death could cause state leaders to rethink the change.

State Rep. Matt McCoy, a Democrat from West Des Moines, said Friday he's already begun to ask questions.

"My first reaction in reading about this case was, 'My God, this is Shelby Duis all over again.' Natalie herself was voicing these very significant charges against her parents that other adults were hearing. Somewhere in the system there was a failure. It might have been a series of failures. But when an adult goes to the length of calling police to report suspected abuse, it seems to me that should be a three-alarm fire."

Lee Rood's Reader's Watchdog column helps Iowans get answers and accountability from public officials, the justice system, businesses and nonprofits. Contact her at lrood@dmreg.com, 515-284-8549 on Twitter @leerood or at Facebook.com /readerswatchdog.