Administrative : Agency Jurisdiction – Investigation Deadline – Good Cause

(1)Where a trial court ordered a state agency not to include on a child abuse registry the name of a swim coach who was the subject of a sexual abuse investigation, the court erred when it based its ruling on the agency’s failure to comply with the time limit for investigations set forth in the statute because the legislature, not the court, must determine such sanctions.

(2)Where a trial court found that an agency did not have sufficient good cause to extend an investigation in a child abuse case, the court did not have authority to review the agency’s good cause finding.

Authority

Dissenting opinion by Draper, J.; “I believe the Children’s Division’s failure to operate within the enunciated statutory time frames divested it of the authority to take any other action in this case.”

Vacated; remanded.

In Re the Matter of Taryn Williams (MLW No. 66618/Case No. SC93653 – 23 pages) (Supreme Court of Missouri, Wilson, J.; Russell, C.J., Breckenridge and Stith, JJ., concur; Draper, J., dissents in separate opinion filed; Fischer and Teitelman, JJ., concur in opinion of Draper, J.) Appealed from circuit court, Jackson County, Roldan, J. (Gary L. Gardner, Jefferson City, for appellant) (Christopher Mirakian and James R. Hobbs, Kansas City, Missouri, for respondent).

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