Kevin Franke said Ruby Franke, Jodi Hildebrandt ‘would be thrilled’ after Utah child welfare bill fails

SALT LAKE CITY — Kevin Franke said Utah lawmakers missed an opportunity to better protect children after they rejected a child welfare bill he said could have helped investigators intervene sooner in abuse cases.

Kevin, whose ex-wife Ruby Franke is serving prison time for child abuse alongside her former business partner Jodi Hildebrandt, spoke with KSL NewsRadio about SB124, which failed on the House floor despite passing the Utah Senate.

The proposal would have allowed child welfare investigators to seek a court warrant to physically check on a child when parents refuse access during an abuse investigation.

Kevin said the bill was designed to close what he described as a gap in Utah’s current child welfare laws.

“Right now, authorities can knock on the door or call someone suspected of harming a child,” Kevin said. “But if that person refuses to cooperate, there’s no requirement that they have to, and eventually those cases can just be dropped.”

Under the proposal, investigators could have asked a juvenile court judge for an investigative warrant to check on a child’s safety when there is reasonable cause to believe something may be wrong.

Kevin said Utah’s current system often focuses on punishing abuse after it happens rather than preventing it in the first place.

“Our system right now is really catered around punishing offenders but not necessarily preventing serious harm to children,” he said. “It’s almost backwards. In order to protect the children with our current laws, we have to allow them to be harmed first.”

Kevin said the bill was deeply personal for him.

His children were abused by Ruby Franke and Hildebrandt, a case that gained national attention after the two were arrested and later convicted on multiple counts of aggravated child abuse.

Kevin said investigators in his family’s case were unable to see the children inside the home.

“Ruby and Jodi were too effective at keeping the children afraid, compliant and behind locked doors,” he said.

The bill had bipartisan support and passed the Utah Senate by a wide margin, Kevin said, adding that similar laws already exist in most states.

“Forty out of 50 states, that’s 80% of states, already have laws like this,” he said. “This is blue states and red states. They recognize the importance of this.”

Still, the measure failed in the House after some lawmakers raised concerns about government overreach and parental rights.

Kevin pushed back on those concerns, saying the bill would have required investigators to obtain a warrant from a juvenile court judge before entering a home.

“It requires obtaining a warrant from the juvenile court, an investigative warrant, to get eyes on the child,” he said.

Kevin also responded to criticism of Utah’s Division of Child and Family Services, which some lawmakers cited while opposing the bill.

“Nobody has more reason to criticize DCFS than I do,” Kevin said. “My children were taken from me into state custody even though I had no part in their abuse.”

But he said the agency is being asked to do a difficult job without the proper tools.

“We’ve asked them to protect children, but we’ve effectively tied their hands behind their backs,” he said.

Kevin said the bill was intended to give investigators a way to verify whether children are safe before abuse escalates.

And he ended his message to lawmakers with a blunt warning.

“I think Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt would be thrilled with our state legislature,” he said. “Because essentially the legislature said it’s more important that they maintain their right to hide child abuse than it is to actually protect our children.”

Despite the setback, Kevin said advocates and lawmakers who sponsored the bill are not giving up and plan to continue pushing for reforms to Utah’s child welfare laws in the future.

Related: Kevin Franke files lawsuit against Jodi Hildebrandt over alleged negligence in mental health treatment