Children's protections should come first

By the time this piece sees print, I certainly hope Travis Decker is behind bars.

For the last several weeks, he has been pursued by law enforcement authorities across rugged North-Central Washington in one of the biggest manhunts in state history.

On May 30, the divorced father picked up his three daughters for a scheduled three-hour visitation. The girls were found deceased three days later in a campground near Leavenworth, their arms zip-tied and with plastic bags over their heads.

What makes this tragedy especially appalling is that it could easily have been prevented. A state policy based...