We Join The Louisville Courier Journal In Decrying Being "Stonewalled" By Kentucky's Cabinet For Health And Family Services On Releasing Records Of Child Deaths In Its Care.
Stonewalled
Other news on same issue:
The brutal death of Amy Dye: Kentucky social workers ignored months of abuse, records show
State blasted on Western Kentucky girl's slaying
Judge orders Kentucky to release records on child-abuse deaths
Ex-Kentucky social worker accused of repeatedly lying about cases
It is unconscionable that the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, the state agency tasked with protecting children, has not complied with a judge’s orders to release records and reviews relating to Kentucky child fatalities and near fatalities in 2009 and 2010. And it is unbelievable that Gov. Steve Beshear, who has spoken of his commitment to the state’s children, has not stepped up and ordered his cabinet to comply with the court orders.
As it is, The Courier-Journal and the Lexington Herald-Leader have fought in court to have the records made available. The examination of these records is in the interest of every Kentuckian: A 2009 series of special reports in The Courier-Journal showed that almost 270 Kentucky children died of abuse or neglect in the previous 10 years, including 41 children in a 12-month span. More than half the children were known to state officials.
The most recent legal efforts by the news organizations to enforce the release orders issued by Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd have revealed not only continued foot-dragging by the cabinet, but also deeply troubling aspects of how the cabinet interprets the state’s reporting law and how narrowly it may apply the law to some child deaths.
These ongoing legal efforts, which have been met with a stonewall by the state, also beg questions about what is at the heart of the cabinet’s fight against transparency, accountability and compliance with the court orders to provide the data.
Jon Fleischaker, attorney for The Courier-Journal, casts the cabinet’s resistance as “an effort to cover up what’s going on in the agency, and that they would do anything not to let the public know what’s going on.”
It is difficult not to reach that conclusion, given the state’s refusal so far to comply with Judge Shepherd’s orders. In one of them, the judge noted the “potentially deadly consequences of a child welfare system that has completely insulated itself from meaningful public scrutiny.”
Though the specifics differ, this warning nevertheless ought to be ringing all sorts of bells in the midst of reports about Penn State University and how its insularity and culture of secrecy and self-protection may have contributed to the nightmare of child sexual abuse now being alleged against one of its prominent former coaches.
Given the cabinet’s insularity, Kentuckians ought to be wondering what the cabinet is hiding, and demanding answers to that question.
Kentuckians also ought to be demanding action from the Governor they just re-elected by a wide margin. His silence and inaction in regard to this issue are confounding and unacceptable.
Mr. Beshear pulled a disappearing act during his campaign to retake the office of the state’s chief executive, but that stunt won’t work now. The buck stops with him. Until he’s part of the solution, he’s part of the problem.
Other news on same issue:
The brutal death of Amy Dye: Kentucky social workers ignored months of abuse, records show
State blasted on Western Kentucky girl's slaying
Judge orders Kentucky to release records on child-abuse deaths
Ex-Kentucky social worker accused of repeatedly lying about cases
It is unconscionable that the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, the state agency tasked with protecting children, has not complied with a judge’s orders to release records and reviews relating to Kentucky child fatalities and near fatalities in 2009 and 2010. And it is unbelievable that Gov. Steve Beshear, who has spoken of his commitment to the state’s children, has not stepped up and ordered his cabinet to comply with the court orders.
As it is, The Courier-Journal and the Lexington Herald-Leader have fought in court to have the records made available. The examination of these records is in the interest of every Kentuckian: A 2009 series of special reports in The Courier-Journal showed that almost 270 Kentucky children died of abuse or neglect in the previous 10 years, including 41 children in a 12-month span. More than half the children were known to state officials.
The most recent legal efforts by the news organizations to enforce the release orders issued by Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd have revealed not only continued foot-dragging by the cabinet, but also deeply troubling aspects of how the cabinet interprets the state’s reporting law and how narrowly it may apply the law to some child deaths.
These ongoing legal efforts, which have been met with a stonewall by the state, also beg questions about what is at the heart of the cabinet’s fight against transparency, accountability and compliance with the court orders to provide the data.
Jon Fleischaker, attorney for The Courier-Journal, casts the cabinet’s resistance as “an effort to cover up what’s going on in the agency, and that they would do anything not to let the public know what’s going on.”
It is difficult not to reach that conclusion, given the state’s refusal so far to comply with Judge Shepherd’s orders. In one of them, the judge noted the “potentially deadly consequences of a child welfare system that has completely insulated itself from meaningful public scrutiny.”
Though the specifics differ, this warning nevertheless ought to be ringing all sorts of bells in the midst of reports about Penn State University and how its insularity and culture of secrecy and self-protection may have contributed to the nightmare of child sexual abuse now being alleged against one of its prominent former coaches.
Given the cabinet’s insularity, Kentuckians ought to be wondering what the cabinet is hiding, and demanding answers to that question.
Kentuckians also ought to be demanding action from the Governor they just re-elected by a wide margin. His silence and inaction in regard to this issue are confounding and unacceptable.
Mr. Beshear pulled a disappearing act during his campaign to retake the office of the state’s chief executive, but that stunt won’t work now. The buck stops with him. Until he’s part of the solution, he’s part of the problem.
Labels: Keeping them honest, News reporting
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 3:33 PM
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