The fatal beating of 2-year-old Spirit Lake native Shelby Duis has caused many Iowa lawmakers to question whether the Iowa Human Services Department could have done anything else to save her life.

A bill proposed in the Iowa House last week would loosen confidentiality laws concerning child-abuse cases, allowing legislators and other state officials to have more control of the department.

“I think legislators are frustrated by the case of that little girl. They are realizing that the [confidentiality] law they passed just a few years ago may be too strict. The law doesn’t even allow the governor access to knowledge about child-abuse cases, so there is no real check on Human Services,” said Rep. Jane Greimann, D-Ames.

Greimann said the bill, which should come to a House vote soon, is not meant to imply that the Human Services Department did anything wrong in the Duis case but is merely an attempt to give legislators a chance to review the files.

“It would tighten up what’s wrong, if there is something wrong, which we just don’t know unless there is accountability. We want to make sure we are doing the best job we can,” she said.

Rep. Dan Boddicker, R-Tipton, said lawmakers should be able to review the department’s files.

“It is our job to make the laws and appropriate funds to Human Services, and they depend on us for that money. We have the right to know how well they are following the law the way it is intended so we can determine how much money we give them,” said Boddicker, chairman of the Human Resources Committee.

The bill, which made it out of committee last week, would give the governor, legislators and other officials access to information involving child-abuse cases resulting in the death or near death of a child, as long as they have attended a required training session.

“They must go through a mandatory, two-hour training about child abuse and are given a booklet,” said Scott Kiefer, spokesman for the Iowa Human Services Department.

Greimann said the training would allow legislators who want to get involved in the review to do so, but it would not force people to participate.

“Legislators would decide if they want to get involved, but those who do would be trained,” Greimann said.

Kiefer said the Human Services Department is currently bound by law to keep nearly all information about child-abuse cases confidential.

“There are several parts of the state and federal law that require us to not talk about child-abuse cases. Well, say for instance, an anonymous source calls in a possible case of child abuse. Those allegations might be found to be true, or they might not. Those laws are there to protect the family and especially the child,” he said.

Kiefer said Human Services has not taken a stance on the bill as of yet.

“Right now, our department is neutral about it,” he said.

However, Kiefer said there are already checks in place on the department.

“Any report received, even rejected cases, are sent to the Human Services supervisor and the county attorney. The county attorney decides whether to pursue the rejected cases that are not child abuse,” he said.

The bill would also allow certain citizens involved in child-abuse cases access to the findings of Human Services’ investigations.

“Nationwide and statewide, there has been a 10 to 13 percent rate of decline of people who report child abuse. It is believed what is happening is people such as teachers and daycare workers are not reporting as much because they don’t think anything will be done if they do,” Boddicker said.

Kiefer said when informants call in about a child-abuse case, they are given limited information about the case, although they are usually provided with more if an investigation does occur.