Improvements to the state’s child protection system seem to be making a difference in getting kids out of abusive homes. Minnesota has “screened-in” more than 7,200 additional child protection cases in the first two quarters of 2016 compared to the same period two years ago. State Commissioner for Children and Family Services Jim Koppel says a number of changes were made after the death of four-year-old Eric Dean of Starbuck who was murdered by his step-mother in 2013.
On 15 occasions, day-care workers and others told Pope County authorities that they suspected Eric Dean was being abused but only one incident was investigated.