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St. Paul, Minn.

Advocate: Child protection changes warranted, welcomed

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The Minnesota Department of Human Services will now conduct random screenings of decisions made by county child protection workers. That's one of two immediate changes to the state child protection system ordered by Gov. Mark Dayton yesterday.

The second change is the creation of a new team of child protection experts that will advise county workers. Dayton's executive order comes after the Star Tribune reported that county workers didn't follow up on abuse complaints about a boy from Starbuck, Minnesota, who was later murdered by his stepmother.

Dayton also created a task force that will spend the next few months reviewing the state's child protection system and determining if more changes are needed.

MPR's Cathy Wurzer spoke with Richard Gerhman, the executive director of Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota, a group that advocates for child protection and foster care.