Kentucky Cabinet For Familes And Children Issues Emergency Rules To HIDE Information On Child Deaths. So Much For Transperency And Accountability.
Kentucky officials rewrite rules to restrict information on child deaths
By Deborah Yetter
After an adverse court decision, state officials have imposed new rules that sharply restrict the information they must release about children who are killed or severely injured because of abuse or neglect in cases where state social-service workers have been involved.
The new rules — quietly filed Jan. 3 as “emergency regulations” by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services — took effect immediately, unlike routine regulations that require legislative review.
The regulations were adopted after the cabinet was forced by Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd to release voluminous records in the case of a Wayne County toddler who died after drinking drain cleaner at an alleged methamphetamine lab where his teenage parents lived.
Both Kayden Branham, 20 months, and his mother, Alisha Branham, then 14, had previously been under supervision of cabinet social workers, who had placed mother and baby in foster care.
The Courier-Journal and the Lexington Herald-Leader had sued to gain access to the records.
Jon Fleischaker, a lawyer for The Courier-Journal and the Kentucky Press Association, called the new regulations “totally outrageous.” Filing them as “emergency” rules, he said, is a blatant attempt to void Shepherd's ruling that Kentucky law requires the cabinet to release information in such cases.
“There is no emergency,” Fleischaker said. “The so-called emergency is that they don't want people to know what they're doing.”
Cabinet spokeswoman Vikki Franklin said the regulations clarify existing rules that are “vague” about what information must be released.
“This regulation enhances transparency of the cabinet's actions,” she said.
But David Richart, a longtime child advocate in Louisville, said the emergency regulations, combined with a separate plan by the cabinet to create an outside panel to secretly review child abuse and neglect deaths, would have the opposite effect.
“It's a joke to think this makes the cabinet more transparent and accountable,” he said. “If anything, it does the reverse.”
Cabinet Secretary Janie Miller says she plans to ask lawmakers in the current legislative session to approve the outside panel.
Under her proposal all information provided to the panel would be confidential, its members would be sworn to secrecy and meetings at which specific cases are discussed would be closed to the public.
Cabinet officials said they are drafting a proposed bill they hope to present soon to lawmakers. The panel would review child deaths and near deaths from abuse or neglect to determine whether they could have been prevented and to make recommendations to agencies involved in child welfare.
It also would look for trends in child deaths and recommend policy changes, according a statement released by the cabinet.
Rep. Tom Burch, the Louisville Democrat who is chairman of the House Health and Welfare Committee, said he was approached by the cabinet and asked to sponsor the bill but hasn't seen a draft of it yet. He said he supports the idea but will not support excessive confidentiality measures.
“Let the public know what's going on,” he said. “If they keep it quiet people will suspect they are covering up something.”
Burch said he also doesn't see the need for the emergency regulations.
“I think it's wrong to try to circumvent a judge's decision by filing an emergency regulation,” Burch said. “I'm tired of the cabinet trying to cover its hind end every time a kid gets killed.”
Dr. Melissa Currie, a forensic pediatrician and chief of a University of Louisville unit that examines children in suspected abuse cases, said many states have outside panels to evaluate child abuse deaths and injuries.
She said that she believes it would be helpful for Kentucky to establish such a panel and that confidentiality can be useful. But she said she worries that excessive confidentiality rules would render it ineffective.
“I would do all I can to support the establishment of a review panel, but if we aren't able to share any of the findings, I'm not sure what the point would be,” she said.
The emergency regulations follow a lengthy court fight over access to cabinet records involving child-abuse deaths or near-deaths in cases where social workers had been involved with the family.
State law — in conformance with federal law — says that information “may be publicly disclosed” in such cases.
But in recent years cabinet officials have refused to release such information, citing the need for confidentiality.
Shepherd ruled last year, however, that the cabinet must release the information after the newspapers sued in the Branham case. He noted in his order the cabinet never established regulations on how to release the information.
The emergency regulations filed by the cabinet with the Legislative Research Commission limit what the cabinet must release to details including the child's date of birth and sex, a “summary” of its investigation into the circumstances of a child fatality or near-fatality, a “summary” of the cabinet's prior involvement with the family and any recommendation made to a court and services provided to a family.
By contrast, under Shepherd's order the cabinet released hundreds of pages of documents in the Branham case that revealed apparent problems with the cabinet's oversight and failure to follow up on problems. That included the fact that Alisha Branham had moved from a home where she was supposed to be living with her child, under her mother's supervision, to a dilapidated trailer being used as a meth lab,
Emergency regulations may stay in effect for 180 days until the cabinet replaces them with permanent regulations. While legislative oversight committees may find them “deficient,” lawmakers cannot block them unless they pass a law to do so. Burch said that might be appropriate in this case.
“I think the legislature ought to take action,” he said.
By Deborah Yetter
After an adverse court decision, state officials have imposed new rules that sharply restrict the information they must release about children who are killed or severely injured because of abuse or neglect in cases where state social-service workers have been involved.
The new rules — quietly filed Jan. 3 as “emergency regulations” by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services — took effect immediately, unlike routine regulations that require legislative review.
The regulations were adopted after the cabinet was forced by Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd to release voluminous records in the case of a Wayne County toddler who died after drinking drain cleaner at an alleged methamphetamine lab where his teenage parents lived.
Both Kayden Branham, 20 months, and his mother, Alisha Branham, then 14, had previously been under supervision of cabinet social workers, who had placed mother and baby in foster care.
The Courier-Journal and the Lexington Herald-Leader had sued to gain access to the records.
Jon Fleischaker, a lawyer for The Courier-Journal and the Kentucky Press Association, called the new regulations “totally outrageous.” Filing them as “emergency” rules, he said, is a blatant attempt to void Shepherd's ruling that Kentucky law requires the cabinet to release information in such cases.
“There is no emergency,” Fleischaker said. “The so-called emergency is that they don't want people to know what they're doing.”
Cabinet spokeswoman Vikki Franklin said the regulations clarify existing rules that are “vague” about what information must be released.
“This regulation enhances transparency of the cabinet's actions,” she said.
But David Richart, a longtime child advocate in Louisville, said the emergency regulations, combined with a separate plan by the cabinet to create an outside panel to secretly review child abuse and neglect deaths, would have the opposite effect.
“It's a joke to think this makes the cabinet more transparent and accountable,” he said. “If anything, it does the reverse.”
Cabinet Secretary Janie Miller says she plans to ask lawmakers in the current legislative session to approve the outside panel.
Under her proposal all information provided to the panel would be confidential, its members would be sworn to secrecy and meetings at which specific cases are discussed would be closed to the public.
Cabinet officials said they are drafting a proposed bill they hope to present soon to lawmakers. The panel would review child deaths and near deaths from abuse or neglect to determine whether they could have been prevented and to make recommendations to agencies involved in child welfare.
It also would look for trends in child deaths and recommend policy changes, according a statement released by the cabinet.
Rep. Tom Burch, the Louisville Democrat who is chairman of the House Health and Welfare Committee, said he was approached by the cabinet and asked to sponsor the bill but hasn't seen a draft of it yet. He said he supports the idea but will not support excessive confidentiality measures.
“Let the public know what's going on,” he said. “If they keep it quiet people will suspect they are covering up something.”
Burch said he also doesn't see the need for the emergency regulations.
“I think it's wrong to try to circumvent a judge's decision by filing an emergency regulation,” Burch said. “I'm tired of the cabinet trying to cover its hind end every time a kid gets killed.”
Dr. Melissa Currie, a forensic pediatrician and chief of a University of Louisville unit that examines children in suspected abuse cases, said many states have outside panels to evaluate child abuse deaths and injuries.
She said that she believes it would be helpful for Kentucky to establish such a panel and that confidentiality can be useful. But she said she worries that excessive confidentiality rules would render it ineffective.
“I would do all I can to support the establishment of a review panel, but if we aren't able to share any of the findings, I'm not sure what the point would be,” she said.
The emergency regulations follow a lengthy court fight over access to cabinet records involving child-abuse deaths or near-deaths in cases where social workers had been involved with the family.
State law — in conformance with federal law — says that information “may be publicly disclosed” in such cases.
But in recent years cabinet officials have refused to release such information, citing the need for confidentiality.
Shepherd ruled last year, however, that the cabinet must release the information after the newspapers sued in the Branham case. He noted in his order the cabinet never established regulations on how to release the information.
The emergency regulations filed by the cabinet with the Legislative Research Commission limit what the cabinet must release to details including the child's date of birth and sex, a “summary” of its investigation into the circumstances of a child fatality or near-fatality, a “summary” of the cabinet's prior involvement with the family and any recommendation made to a court and services provided to a family.
By contrast, under Shepherd's order the cabinet released hundreds of pages of documents in the Branham case that revealed apparent problems with the cabinet's oversight and failure to follow up on problems. That included the fact that Alisha Branham had moved from a home where she was supposed to be living with her child, under her mother's supervision, to a dilapidated trailer being used as a meth lab,
Emergency regulations may stay in effect for 180 days until the cabinet replaces them with permanent regulations. While legislative oversight committees may find them “deficient,” lawmakers cannot block them unless they pass a law to do so. Burch said that might be appropriate in this case.
“I think the legislature ought to take action,” he said.
Labels: Keeping them honest
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 6:28 PM
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