KENTUCKY News

An Owensboro street became the scene of a large protest late Friday afternoon,
but it was all for a good cause. In 2009, Kentucky was ranked
number one for the most child abuse deaths over any other state in the
country.And on Friday, during Child Abuse Prevention Month,
more than a hundred protesters from Daviess and surrounding counties gathered to advocate for change.
Tiffany Shrider wants her voice to be heard.
That's why on this day, she's just one of a number of people out protesting for children.
"We're just trying to make sure everyone knows they can take their part in protecting children and
preventing child abuse," said Tiffany Shrider, an Owensboro resident.
For one hour, Frederica Street in downtown Owensboro was lined with posters and protesters -- some younger
than others, but all were out trying to grab the attention of those on the road.
"This is one day out of the year that we're doing this, but we wanted to ask people to just be there
every day for a kid," said Vicki Embry, executive director of CASA for Ohio and Daviess Counties.
Embry works for CASA, a non-profit advocating for abused and neglected kids.
She says it's important for those who suspect child abuse to report it.
"I think sometimes people think child abuse issues are left up to law enforcement or social services,
and maybe they don't have a part in that or can't do anything to change
child abuse, but actually you can," Embry said.
"Children are our future, not to sound cliché but they really are," Shrider said. "If kids are dying
every day from child abuse, where's our future going?"
CASA members say there are warning signs you can look for of potential child abuse
such as unexplained bruises on a child and frequent injuries.
Also withdrawn or aggressive behaviors can also be signs that a child is being abused.

By Tom Loftus • tloftus@courier-journal.com •
September 30, 2010

FRANKFORT, Ky. — An audit has found at least
12 instances of children living or being cared for
in state-regulated homes where sex offenders
lived.

The report, released Thursday by state Auditor
Crit Luallen, compared the addresses of
registered sex offenders with those of foster
homes; the residences of other children under
state care; and homes that provide state-
subsidized day care for low-income families.

It initially found 30 matches, and a follow-up
investigation by the state agency overseeing the
programs confirmed 12 of them, Luallen said in
releasing the audit.

“Any time the state is charged with the
placement and protection of our most vulnerable
citizens, in this case children, every step possible
should be taken to guarantee they are secure,”
Luallen said in a statement.

The audit said the state agency charged with
protecting such children, the Department for
Community Based Services, should undertake
stronger screening and monitoring — primarily
by making the same check of the sex offender
database that the auditors did.

Such checks should be done during the
application process and for any renewal or
reassessment, the audit said.

Department Commissioner Patricia Wilson said
the agency would follow the recommendations.

She also said the department investigated each
instance in which a sex offender was found to be
living with a child under the state's care, and “we
do not believe those children were harmed and

Read more: http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20100930/NEWS01/309300044/1008/

Kentucky begins releasing child-death records; newspaper questions redactions

By Beth Musgrave and Bill Estep

Posted: 12:00am on Dec 13, 2011; Modified: 9:35am on Dec 13, 2011

Three-month-old Rylee Jean Campbell died in
2010 at University of Kentucky Hospital. Her
father, Paul S. Farthing Jr., 30, was charged
with murder in her death. This is a picture of a
photo provided by Paul Farthing Sr. of Richmond.
GREG KOCHER | STAFF

The state began releasing documents Monday about dozens of children who were killed or nearly killed from neglect and abuse in 2009 and 2010.

The Cabinet for Health and Family Services
released redacted versions of 85 internal reviews that it conducted of
deaths and near-deaths in cases in which it had previous contact with
the family. Of those cases, 35 involved deaths and 43 involved
near-deaths. In seven instances, it was unclear from the documents
whether the child died.
The 353 pages are the first batch of many
documents that Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepherd has
ordered the cabinet to turn over to the Lexington Herald-Leader and The
Courier-Journal of Louisville.
However, much of the information
contained in the reports — including the names of at least eight
children who died as a result of abuse and neglect and the names of
people charged with their deaths — had been redacted.
Robert Houlihan Jr., a lawyer for the Herald-Leader, said the newspaper will challenge the state's many redactions in court.
"That
is totally contrary to the letter and the spirit of the judge's
ruling," Houlihan said of withholding the names of children who died.
"Where there has been a fatality, there can be no justification that I
see to redact that name of the dead victim."
A Herald-Leader
review of the documents shows a lack of consistency in how the cabinet
conducts internal reviews, which are required by law after a death or a
near-death of a child who has had previous contact with the cabinet.
Some
reviews are lengthy and thorough, including an analysis of what social
workers could do differently to prevent similar deaths. But some
internal reviews consist of one page that doesn't even say whether the
child died.
Terry Brooks, the executive director of Kentucky Youth
Advocates, said it's difficult to say whether the internal reviews are
generating long-term solutions that protect children, which is what they
were intended to do.
"If children dying does not demand a
formalized process, you have to ask yourself, what does?" Brooks said.
"If you don't have the protocols that produce data on which you can make
decisions, then you're missing the boat."
The reports show that
substance abuse and domestic violence were chronic problems for families
in which children were killed or badly hurt. The documents also show
that most child fatalities were preceded by multiple reports of
suspected child abuse or neglect.
The documents were released
after a two-year legal battle between the newspapers and the cabinet,
which oversees child protection.
Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip
Shepherd has ruled twice in the past two years, most recently on Nov. 3,
that child-protection records in the case of a death or near-death
should be public. But the cabinet resisted releasing the records until
Gov. Steve Beshear announced Nov. 29 that they would be made public.
Christina
Heavrin, general counsel for the cabinet, told Shepherd during a Nov.
30 court hearing that it will release about 180 case files at a later
date after the state has redacted certain information from the files.
The cabinet has said it will have to hire temporary staff to help with
those redactions. The case files will contain more detailed information
than the internal fatality reviews.
In the documents released
Monday, the cabinet redacted the names of some children who died from
neglect and abuse and withheld the names of all children who were
seriously injured. In the written protocol that it provided workers who
redacted the information, the cabinet said it would be improper to
include the names of children who nearly died because "the trauma the
child already suffered should not result in a constant reminder by
releasing his/her identity."
In many cases, the cabinet also
withheld the names of people who allegedly abused or killed children;
the counties where fatalities and near-fatalities occurred; and the
names of people against whom allegations of abuse were substantiated.
In
one instance, the cabinet redacted the name of a hospital where a
one-year-old child — who had ingested some of his mother's prescription
drugs — was initially treated in August 2009.
Some information
that the cabinet took out would be public in other places. The name of a
man who faced criminal charges for allegedly throwing an infant to the
floor in April 2009 was deleted. However, criminal charges are public
record.
Houlihan said the newspaper would have to look closely at
the issue of redacting the names of injured children and address that
with Shepherd.
Houlihan said there was nothing in Shepherd's order
that would allow the cabinet to withhold the names of people that it
decided had abused or neglected children. He also said there was no
discussion of allowing the cabinet to redact the names of people charged
with crimes.
"That seems to be turning this whole thing on its head," he said.
During
a recent court hearing, Shepherd said only a limited amount of
information, such as Social Security numbers and names of other minor
children in the family, should be redacted from the files.
The
cabinet is required by statute to conduct internal fatality reviews for
"any case where child abuse or neglect has resulted in a child fatality
or near-fatality and the cabinet had prior involvement with the child or
family."
According to the statute, those reviews must provide a
summary that includes an account of the cabinet's actions in the child's
life and "any policy or personnel changes" that resulted in the child's
death, and they should note what type of assistance the agency received
from outside agencies.
During the Nov. 30 court hearing, Heavrin
said the internal reviews are informal and that there are no standard
forms or uniform summaries of the internal reviews.
Some of the
documents review by the Herald-Leader on Monday contained limited
information about the cabinet's previous involvement in the family's
life and little or no information about potential changes to cabinet
policy.
For example, little follow-up is noted in a March 2,
2009, near-fatality review of a child who went into cardiac arrest and
was taken to the Kosair Hospital emergency room with bleeding on the
brain, a lacerated liver, and bruising in his eyes, back and abdomen.
There is nothing in the report that shows that the cabinet looked at
previous reports of abuse or tried to determine whether there were
things the cabinet could do better.
In contrast, social workers
who did an internal review of the death of Jaislyn Green, a 20-day-old
infant who suffocated in January 2009 while sleeping with her mother on
the couch, looked at the cabinet's previous involvement and listed
several areas of improvement.
The day after Jaislyn Green's death,
the mother tested positive for opiates and other drugs. The cabinet had
received previous reports that the parents were on drugs and apparently
had opened a case file. In its review, the cabinet found that it should
not have accepted that the parents were unable to pay for drug testing.
"Staff
should have considered filing a petition in court due to their lack of
compliance," the internal review found. The review also found that
hospital personnel need to understand the importance of drug testing
infants and mothers at the time of birth.
Jill Midkiff, a spokeswoman for the cabinet, said the reviews have generated long-term changes at the cabinet.
"Specifically,
in early 2011, the agency used information from the internal reviews,
in conjunction with information from other sources, to develop a new
protocol for consultations related to investigations of abuse of
children age 4 and under — the age group most likely to experience
lethal abuse," Midkiff said.
State law also requires the cabinet
to submit an annual report by Sept. 1 to the legislature and the
governor that contains "analysis of all summaries of internal reviews"
from the previous year.
Child advocates and some lawmakers have
criticized the cabinet for failing to meet the Sept. 1 deadline the past
two years. This year and in 2010, the cabinet did not provide the
report until December.
There have been at least two cases since
2009 involving a child death from abuse and neglect when the cabinet has
admitted that the required internal review was not conducted.
In
2009, the Herald-Leader and Courier-Journal sued the cabinet for records
about 20-month-old Kayden Daniels, also known as Kayden Branham, who
died after drinking drain cleaner allegedly used in the production of
methamphetamine.
Kayden and his mother, who was then 14, were
under the supervision of the cabinet at the time of his death. The
cabinet admitted in court proceedings that no one had conducted an
internal review after Kayden's death.
Cabinet officials also
admitted this year that no one conducted an internal review after the
death of Amy Dye, 9, of Todd County, who was beaten to death in February
by her adoptive brother. Cabinet officials have said they did not think
the cabinet had to do an internal review of Amy's death because Amy was
killed by her brother and not a custodial parent.
The cabinet had
told the Todd County Standard, a weekly newspaper, that it had no
records regarding Amy or her family when the newspaper asked for the
cabinet's records involving Amy shortly after her death in February.
The
newspaper sued the cabinet, and Shepherd subsequently released
documents showing that the cabinet had received multiple reports about
possible abuse and neglect of Amy in the years before her death.
The
cabinet has said Amy's death was not included in the 18 child
fatalities listed in the 2011 report that it sent lawmakers earlier this
month. The omission has many child advocates and legislators concerned
about the validity of the cabinet's reports to the legislature.
Rep.
Tom Burch, a co-chairman of the Interim Joint Committee on Health and
Welfare, said early Monday that most of the panel's Dec. 19 meeting will
be about the cabinet's handling of child-fatality cases.



http://www.kentucky.com/2011/12/13/1992409/kentucky-begins-releasing-child.html#ixzz1gR8oWuGT