Rob Sand is Iowa’s state auditor.
As a father, my top priority is protecting my kids. When a child is placed in foster care, their safety and well-being become the state’s responsibility. Tragically, the state of Iowa failed to protect Sabrina Ray, killed by her adoptive parents in 2017, and her siblings from abuse and torture.
Because of that failure, the state paid $10 million in 2023 to settle lawsuits brought by Sabrina’s two surviving sisters. I voted on those settlements because, as auditor, I am a statutory member of the board that makes these decisions. I supported those settlements not just to help those children and their families, but because I believed it would lead to real, meaningful reform to Iowa’s foster care and adoption system.
A key part of that settlement – and a key reason I supported it – was the creation of a child welfare task force. Its mission: to examine what went wrong, make recommendations on how to improve the system, and most importantly, prevent future tragedies. Its members included professionals directly involved in Sabrina’s case — a police officer, a paramedic, a prosecutor — as well as the families who adopted Sabrina’s sisters.
But that’s not what happened.
After just three meetings in early 2024, the task force appears to have been quietly disbanded without notice to the public or even some of its members, and without issuing a final report. That lack of follow-through is a disservice to Sabrina and her sisters, puts Iowa children at risk, and leaves taxpayers with no assurance that lessons have been learned.
The need for accountability is clear – and don’t just take my word for it. Six years ago, Iowa’s Ombudsman – another state watchdog – found that Sabrina’s life could have been saved had social workers and contractors conducted more thorough investigations into her living conditions. That report should have been a turning point. Instead, it was a missed opportunity, not unlike the silencing of the child welfare task force.
Again, protecting kids is the priority, but as state auditor, I’m also concerned that Iowans are paying millions of dollars to settle cases of abuse and neglect because the system that’s supposed to protect them falls short of its obligations. Taxpayer dollars shouldn’t be used to paper over systemic problems – they should be used to fix them. I supported the settlement because I believed accountability and reform would follow. Instead, we’ve seen inaction.
Iowa’s children and taxpayers deserve answers. We deserve to know why this task force stopped meeting, who made that decision, and why there is no final report of recommendations. The Iowa Legislative Oversight Committee must step in, hold hearings, and demand answers.
Transparency and accountability are not optional – especially when children’s lives are on the line. If the state can quietly walk away from a task force meant to protect kids, then the system is broken. Until it is fixed, Iowa’s children – and the taxpayers who fund these systems – are left without the protections they deserve.
Editor’s note from Laura Belin: Here is the redacted public version of the September 8, 2020 report from the Iowa Office of Ombudsman: Misplaced Trust: An Investigation of the Death of Sabrina Ray
Top image is by New Africa, available via Shutterstock.