The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 3

3cs2Uoinrs2tcQistrr I Monday, march 7, 2011 state edition mm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmammmmmmmmmmmmm Breaking news on your cell phone Text "DMRNEWS" to 44636 (4INF0) to sign up for breaking news text alerts. Variety telethon raises $3 million over weekend for children's charities pageaa DATELINE IOWA 4A OBITUARIES 7A WEATHER 10A DesMoinesRegister.comnews Bfflpy lfi)ft dfi H(oIo)ftDIi) The Waukee for-profit company's business practices are being looked at in light of parent requests. vision at the Iowa attorney general's office also has received a half-dozen complaints about the agency since 2006, the last time it intervened on consumers' behalf. The company also acknowledged last fall it had not complied with part of a voluntary legal agreement reached in 2008 after that intervention. The six complaints on file with the attorney general center on cases in which birth parents ultimately rejected adoptions for I Response from Abby's MANY ADOPTIONS FAIL: K.C.

Gerlitz said couples often blame the agency for things that aren't its fault, even though the agency tries to prepare them for the fact that half of all private adoptions fail. REFUNDS PROVIDED: Gerlitz said the agency has provided refunds to all parents who have complained to the state within the timelines specified in their contracts. He noted that the agency has successfully completed nearly 800 adoptions since 2003. which the agency had already collected large sums. Prospective adoptive parents have said they were owed refunds or questioned whether the company misrepresented the availability of the children for adoption.

K.C. Gerlitz, who has owned Abby's with his wife, Patricia, since 2003, said the agency tries to screen birth parents as thoroughly as possible, but the industry always wrestles with a ABBY'S, PAGE 4A profit firm, Abby's One True Gift, according to agency spokesman Dave Werning. Werning did not say what specific complaints led his agency to look into the company's business practices. But he did call "questionable" some agency practices described in recent calls to agency investigators from parents. The Consumer Protection Di By LEE ROOD lroodiadmreg.com A Waukee adoption agency that matches pregnant mothers with potential adoptive parents across the country is under state scrutiny for the second time in five years.

Iowa's Department of Inspections and Appeals is looking into recent adoptions by the for- Dogs' fatal attack on child Jobs cut for 2 of 4 attorneys in care center abuse unit rieves a shocked town 1 ik-- i a mm I L. i a mm mm i I ewj ItIIIII mm iTIm TTTT I LLLULZT? i till I. Li I VA KW lit Vaf 'V Ml Founded complaints were up 18 percent in fiscal 2009, but inspections officials say the lay offs are needed to save money. By CLARK KAUFFMAN ckauffmandmreg.com The state agency that inspects Iowa nursing homes has eliminated two of the four prosecutors who respond to allegations of abuse in care facilities. The Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals laid off two part-time lawyers in its Dependent-Adult Abuse Coordinating Unit last week.

The lawyers investigated complaints of abuse and represented the state in hearings where alleged abusers challenged efforts to place them on a registry that would bar them from working in care facilities. Their departure leaves four full-time workers in the unit, only two of whom are attorneys. "This was strictly a budgetary decision," said department spokesman David Werning. "We're not out of the woods for the current fiscal year." The abuse unit was established six years ago in response to growing complaints that Iowa seniors were being subjected to abuse in care facilities. The complaints ABUSE, PAGE 5A I Expected savings from the job cuts $6,500 in the remaining four months of fiscal year 2011.

$16,186 next year, a relatively small amount because 86 percent of the prosecutors' pay was provided by the federal government. I Other recent cuts The cuts come two weeks after the state eliminated 10 of the 38 inspectors who monitor the care of 30,000 lowans who live in 442 nursing homes. As with the prosecutors, the inspectors' jobs were funded primarily by the federal government. MIKE 6URIEY, DUBUQUE TELEGRAPH HERALDASSOCIATED PRESS A fence is removed from the backyard of a home in Hopkinton on Sunday after two Rottweilers attacked and killed a 3-year-old girl in the yard Saturday evening. The dogs, which were owned by the child's grandfather, were euthanized after the attack.

Hopkinton council will look at the town's animal control laws "It's tragic, and it's devastating, and I feel for them. My heart reaches out to them." Debbie Peck, neighbor dogs were owned by the child's grandfather and usually were kept in Monticello, although neighbors said they had often seen the dogs. Vanessa's father, Vaughn Husmann, and her mother, Rhonda Marty, were not home at the time of the attack. Vanessa had been left in the care of her brother, Brandon Marty, 18, the sheriff said. By NICOLE PASEKA npasekagidmreg.com Hopkinton, la.

By the end of Sunday, a somber group working in the backyard had removed anything the dog kennel, the swing set, the Little Tikes playhouse that could remind them of 3-year-old Vanessa Husmann. Vanessa died Saturday evening after being attacked by two Rottweilers in the fenced backyard of her home at 206 Third St. in Hopkinton. Neighbors said Vanessa loved to play outdoors. "She had all kinds of tractors and played on the swings," said neighbor Ruthann Feltes.

It is not clear how the toddler gained access to the dogs. Delaware County Sheriff John LeClere said Sunday that the Family members declined to comment Sunday. HopUnton.j DES MOINES by Delaware County sheriff's deputies. Hopkinton Mayor Cathy Harris said the City Council will re-examine Hopkinton's animal control laws at its meeting tonight in light of Vanessa's death. "We will more than likely pass an ordinance that Rottweilers will not be allowed in town," Harris said.

City ordinance already bans pit bulls, as well as "vicious animals" those that have attacked people without provocation. It wasn't known whether there had been previous problems with the Rottweilers. Congregations at St. John's Catholic Church in Delhi and St. Luke's Catholic Church in Hopkinton, where Vanessa's mother worships, prayed for the toddler and her family Sunday.

Many Hopkinton residents could not speak of the tragedy. Others expressed grief for the family. "It's tragic, and it's devastating, and I feel for them," said neighbor Debbie Peck. "My heart reaches out to them." Peck said she was home throughout the evening, but heard nothing unusual until DEATH, PAGE 5A No charges have been filed. Vanessa suffered severe injuries in the attack and was rushed to Jones Regional Medical Center in Anamosa by Hopkinton medics.

Doctors pronounced the girl dead upon arrival. The two dogs were euthanized Expert: Health bill would break new federal law He says the Senate legislation bucks free-market principles by guaranteeing agents business. officials do it for them. Senate File 235 says only licensed insurance agents could sell policies that people find on the exchange. The bill also says the agents would receive commissions of at least 5 percent of the cost.

Timothy Jost, a professor who teaches health care law at Washington and Lee University in Virginia, said the requirement clearly would break the new fed eral law. The federal law calls for the creation of "navigators," who would help guide people through the process. Web-sawy consumers would not be required to use navigators, however, he said, and the navigators would not be allowed to gain commissions on sales. "The idea that only brokers could be navigators HEALTH, PAGE 4A 2006 Odyssey Touring 4DrVan $17,900 Iowa plans to set up such an exchange, an electronic system that would allow individual consumers and small businesses to compare and purchase health insurance policies. Under the federal health reform law passed last year, all states must start an exchange or let federal By TONY LEYS tleys0dmrcg.com A health reform bill In the Iowa Senate would break federal law by requiring Iowa consumers to go through licensed insurance agents if they wanted to use a new health insurance exchange, a national expert alleged last week.

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