Lawmakers to propose changes to child protection system

Minnesota lawmakers are outlining their proposals to change the state's child protection system.

Four legislators were rolling out a plan Wednesday. They serve on a task force Gov. Mark Dayton created after media reports of bureaucratic faults in the death of a 4-year-old boy.

The task force said last month it thinks the state's child protection officers had worked too much with law enforcement and not enough with families in the past. Now the members say the program has swung too far in the other direction.

The group recommended scrapping a law that bars county child protection workers from considering past abuse reports when they weigh whether to investigate new ones. It also wants counties to report more information about their child protection decisions to the state.