Jefferson Co. prosecutor blames law for death of Port Townsend infant; lawmaker disagrees
Representative says officials are misunderstanding her law
A baby left in the custody of a reported known drug user, with a lengthy criminal record, ends up dead. The question we all ask: how could this happen? The prosecuting attorney in Jefferson County, where the incident happened, places the blame on a new law, which makes it harder for DCYF to intervene.
PORT TOWNSEND, Wash. - The Jefferson County Prosecutor blames a new state law as the reason a baby who died last week was left in the custody of a reportedly known drug user, with a lengthy criminal record. The law's sponsor says people are misunderstanding the bill.
Jordan Sorensen, 37, was accused of kidnapping his own baby before hiding and disposing of its body. The Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) chose to leave the weeks-old baby in Sorensen’s care, despite police acknowledging Sorensen is a known drug user.
"I have a lot of concerns about how the suspect ended up with the child in the first place, and it is my understanding it is due to the passage of HB 1227," said Jefferson County prosecuting attorney James Kennedy.
House Bill 1227 says imminent danger needs to be proven to remove a child from a home, and drug use is not enough of a risk.
There have been concerns regarding this law since it went into effect.
State law makes intervention for drugs difficult for child protective services, attorney says
The Jefferson County prosecuting attorney believes the reason a child is dead could be from a new law which prevents child protective services from intervening if drugs are involved.
On Wednesday, FOX 13 News spoke to the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self (D-21).
"To say that the excuse for not removing a child is that law, that never took that responsibility away from them, I think is going way too far," she said.
Ortiz-Self says the purpose of her law was to crack down on the injustice of separating families due to poverty.
She tells FOX 13 News her law did not change anything already on the books when it comes to addiction issues.
"Just the use of substances has never been in the last, I don’t know how many decades, been cause enough by itself, and that still stays the same," said Ortiz-Self
READ MORE: Port Townsend father accused of hiding infant's dead body in bushes: docs
Ortiz-Self says in the Jefferson County incident there were plenty of other contributing factors to show the child was in danger.
"You look at the whole picture and you see this. So, to blame it on a law that stayed the same as far as proving imminent risk, I would say that rap sheet spoke for itself very highly," she said.
Several new laws are being discussed this year to explicitly include opioids, like fentanyl, as a danger to families, but Ortiz-Self says DCYF, law enforcement, attorneys, and judges can still act now.
"Read the law. It hasn’t changed," she said.