Statehouse Leaders Weigh Legislative Response To DCS Report

Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma (R-Indianapolis) says he’s “disturbed” previous administrations ignored reports on the Department of Child Services.

Democratic lawmakers question whether this time will be different.

Many of the recommendations from a recent independent evaluation of DCS were also in past reports that went unheeded. Bosma says he didn’t even know about one such report, given to the Pence administration.

“I can tell you that this governor is laser-focused on this and he has picked folks that he has confidence in to run the department and I know they’re not going to drop the ball on this one,” Bosma says.

READ MORE: HOLCOMB SENDS $25 MILLION TO DCS AS INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATOR RECOMMENDS CHANGES

But Sen. Karen Tallian (D-Portage) says she doesn’t think the questions around DCS will be answered.

“I’m not sure that we’ve got a handle yet on what’s the big picture – and the big picture is who are these kids that are being removed from their houses and why?” Tallian says.

Legislative study committees will examine DCS issues in the coming months.