Targeting people who make false claims of child abuse and ridding the names of accused but unsubstantiated persons from the state's abuser tracking system are yet again the focus of proposed legislation.

Alleging child abuse is becoming a disturbingly popular tactic among divorcing couples arguing over child custody, says the sponsor, Sen. Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake.

The fact that making a knowingly false claim is a felony under Utah law is not proving to be much of a deterrent.

"People resort to making a claim, legitimately or not, if they believe they're up against the wall," Davis said. "While it helps one, it can destroy the other person. Once the system's gears get turning, not only is it next to impossible to stop them, the name of the accused stays in the state Management Information System indefinitely."

Under Davis' bill, the names of accused but unsubstantiated abuse suspects would be removed after five years. His legislation received conditional approval last week by fellow lawmakers on the Child Welfare Legislative Oversight Panel.

Critics of the state Division of Child and Family Services — the state's main child protective-services agency — say the handling of false claims is the biggest flaw in a system heavily weighted against anyone accused, regardless of the source or merits of the claim.

A flaw to some is a vital tool to DCFS, which does not endorse the legislation, at least in its current form. Agency administrators say the possible damage to someone's reputation who is falsely accused and on the list is almost nil. The chance of missing a pattern of reported behavior over many years — which is a common trait of abusers who are ultimately caught — is almost a certainty, they told lawmakers.

Rep. Steven Mascaro, R-West Jordan, who is co-chairman of the Child Welfare Legislative Oversight Panel, agrees with the intent of the legislation. He is cautious in his support of it, because he believes the system can be dodged by those who are legitimately accused abusers.

"I don't want someone unduly punished for a claim, nor do I want someone who knows how to work around the system get around an ongoing (abuse) problem," Mascaro said.

Duane Betournay, director of DCFS, considers the current policies and practices regarding fraudulent claims "very well calibrated to protect the individual and the agency." He said that DCFS is obviously against people using the system to get the upper hand in a child-custody battle, adding that the agency is willing to "take a step further" and review the process and the training of employees to better recognize false reports.

However, he added, the agency remains opposed to any additional provisions that would remove unsupported findings from the system. Doing so "would limit the ability of the division and the courts to use information in researching possible patterns of abuse" that removal of the names might preclude, he said.

The issue of cases being brought without merit has been addressed previously by lawmakers, and new language has been debated several times, said Rep. David Litvak, D-Salt Lake. "I think we agree on the overall goal, but at the same time, we can't discount the concerns raised by the very people the state has assigned and relies on to keep children safe."

In the 2007 fiscal year, social workers investigated 20,340 child-abuse and neglect cases. Of those, 8,396 reports were substantiated.

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E-mail: jthalman@desnews.com