The Government Oversight Committees in the Iowa House and Senate will convene Monday to review “processes” in the Department of Human Services after two teenage girls adopted out of the foster care system starved to death.
The 16-year-olds were both being homeschooled by adoptive parents — and the parents of Natalie Finn of West Des Moines and Sabrina Ray of Perry now face felony charges. State social workers had checked both homes, but did not remove any of the children in either home before the teens died.
Two administrators in the Iowa Department of Human Services are scheduled to testify before lawmakers Monday, but the agency’s director who is retiring on June 16th will not. The Spirit Lake police chief and Marshall County sheriff, along with a judge and two local prosecutors from Polk and Linn Counties are all scheduled to speak at the hearing.
The final person listed on the agenda is a representative of the Home School Legal Defense Association. Some critics say the abuse these two dead teenagers suffered through might have been discovered sooner if Iowa law still required parents to notify their local public school district if they intend to homeschool a child.