Starved teen's death sparks House panel investigation of child welfare practices

BRIANNE PFANNENSTIEL   | bpfannenst@dmreg.com

A legislative oversight committee will begin formally investigating child welfare practices that may have contributed to the death of Natalie Finn, a 16-year-old who was found neglected and starving in her West Des Moines home despite previous visits from police and state workers.

"The committee wants to understand how this process works so we can look at ways to prevent another tragic situation like the Natalie Finn case," said Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton and chair of the House Government Oversight Committee, which is leading the investigation. "We are not interested in politicizing this tragic situation or jeopardizing an ongoing criminal investigation."

Recently unsealed court documents revealed that medics found Finn wearing an adult diaper and lying in her own waste on the floor of her bare bedroom Oct. 24. She was unresponsive and later died after being transported to a hospital. The Polk County medical examiner's office found she had died of emaciation after being denied critical care.

Police reports show that child welfare workers had been called to the house five months before Finn's death to investigate concerns that she had been begging for food and showed other signs of abuse.

Legislative leaders said they want to know whether problems that exist within the Department of Human Services, which oversees child abuse complaints, could allow cases like Finn's to fall through the cracks. Kaufmann said the investigation is inspired by Finn's case, but he said the panel does not plan to investigate Finn's case specifically.

"I don’t believe it’s my role as oversight chair, as a legislator or as a person to say I know more than the people that are trying to prosecute (Finn's parents)," he said. So I’m trying to navigate the line between recognizing that this is certainly inspired by this (case), but also not interfering with it.”