New York, Indiana and Kentucky and Child Death Reports UPDATED

By on 3-02-2012 in Child Abuse, Child Welfare Reform, Indiana, Kentucky, New York

New York, Indiana and Kentucky and Child Death Reports UPDATED

New York

“Elisa’s Law, a measure loosening the secrecy regulations in child-abuse investigations. Among other reforms, the law required a public accounting of the events leading up to the death of any child in New York State who had been reported as abused or neglected.

But for the last five years, the state’s Office of Children and Family Services has been working quietly and persistently to limit access to those case reports, which in most instances are the only record of the circumstances leading up to the deaths. “
In 2007, the office tried to have the law changed. When that failed, it made its own rule. According to a policy enacted by the office in September 2008, it will not release the fatality reports mandated by Elisa’s Law if there are siblings or other children in the home and officials decide that revealing the family’s abuse and investigative history is not in their “best interests.”
After The New York Times began asking about the policy on withholding reports, a spokesman for Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said the governor’s office would review the change.
The fatality reports were intended to permit public scrutiny of the performance of child welfare authorities while protecting the privacy of those involved. The reports do not identify deceased children, their caseworkers or anyone else by name. But they do list every complaint of abuse or neglect involving the child, the child welfare agency’s response to the complaints, and an assessment of whether the response was adequate.
The state issues about 250 fatality reports each year. And in 2010, for example, two-thirds of the reports issued in New York City involved homes with multiple children, meaning that under its new policy, officials could withhold information about their deaths.
So far, multiple bills drafted at the request of the Office of Children and Family Services to limit the public disclosure portion of Elisa’s Law have failed. The most recent was introduced in the Assembly in the current legislative session and in January was referred to committee.
The bill would require the state to release its recommendations for administrative or policy changes resulting from a child’s death. But in cases where there are surviving siblings or other children in the home, the bill would permit the state to withhold the details of the family’s case history and how the local child welfare agency responded if releasing those details was deemed to be against the other children’s “best interest.” The local agency, which in New York City is the Administration for Children’s Services, would have a say in the decision, even though that agency might have been responsible for any missteps.
The Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat who sponsored the Assembly version of Elisa’s Law, would not comment on the changes to public disclosure proposed by the Office of Children and Family Services. But a spokeswoman said on his behalf that any bill to amend Elisa’s Law would be vetted to determine whether the process protects “to the greatest extent possible” New York’s children and their families.
Marcia Robinson Lowry, a lawyer and the director of Children’s Rights Inc., a national watchdog group dedicated to reforming government child welfare services, said limiting access to reports would hurt efforts to make the system more responsive to children in dangerous homes.
“They are something a public advocacy group or a think tank or a responsible party can have available to understand the systemic failures that have led to these children’s deaths,” she said. “They are critically important.”

State Keeps Death Files of Abused Children Secret
[New York Times 2/28/12 by Jo Craven McGinty]

Indiana

“House Democrats are gearing up for another push to require more accountability for the state agency responsible for investigating child abuse and neglect

The Democrats’ renewed effort comes after several setbacks this week in the Legislature. They’re calling for a review of Department of Child Services’ policies, performance, spending and the new child abuse hotline, which routes all reports to a call center in Indianapolis. The abuse hotline has received some criticism in recent weeks after reports that more allegations of abuse are being screened out and not investigated since the hotline was created.

Minority Leader Patrick Bauer told The Indianapolis Star that changes are needed.

“There’s been reports all over the state about the deaths of children that didn’t have to happen, that this state could have prevented,” he said. “We have to have our Republican colleagues and the governor answer this call.”

Republicans are defending the agency and said the number of caseworkers that investigate abuse and neglect has doubled since its creation in 2005. That’s when Gov. Mitch Daniels moved the department out from under the purview of the Family and Social Services Administration.

Rep. Jeff Espich, R- Uniondale, argues that fewer children are dying from abuse and neglect and that more children involved with DCS are getting regular monthly visits with their caseworkers.

But Democrats say they were moved to seek more oversight because of complaints from constituents, including judges, child advocates and DCS workers. The lawmakers cited recent news stories about children who died after they were called to the attention of DCS, and the growing number of reports that have not been investigated since the agency opened the central call center.

They also question the agency’s decision to return more than $300 million allocated by the legislature to help troubled children and families since 2009 and a high turnover rate among DCS workers.

The South Bend Tribune reports that DCS Director James Payne said during a speech Thursday that changes are coming in the state and across the nation. Payne, speaking in Goshen, said the department plans to release numbers next week that show Indiana had 25 substantiated child fatalities in 2011. He said only four of those involved families with previous DCS contact, a decrease from previous years.

“If we have any number up there, it is too many, we all know that,” Payne said. “But what has happened is that fatalities have gone down because communities and families are working together.”

Bauer said cases are being labeled as unsubstantiated and records are being purged, leading to a lack of transparency in reporting and inadequate record keeping to help catch repeat abusers.

Payne defended the call center in Indianapolis, saying that since its launch in 2010, the department has increased the number of investigations it has completed — from 56,448 to 76,092.

Rep. John Bartlett, D-Indianapolis, said he plans to offer two amendments to the bill when it comes back to the House floor for a vote next week. One would route reports of suspected abuse or neglect back to county offices, which is how they were handled before the hotline. The other would shift the responsibility for investigating reports from DCS to county sheriffs. He noted that police officers are trained investigators.

“We have got to stop our children from dying,” he said.”

Democrats want review of Indiana child protection agency
[News-Sentinel 2/24/12 by Associated Press]

Kentucky

“A House committee approved legislation Thursday to provide more outside scrutiny of child abuse and neglect deaths and to tighten the definition of what constitutes abuse.

But the bill does not define what information officials must release under the state open-records law about child abuse deaths and serious injuries, as the sponsor, Rep. Susan Westrom, initially had intended.

Instead, Westrom said she will refer the issue to a proposed task force that would take a broad look at state laws affecting juveniles before the next legislative session.

Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd has found that current law requires the cabinet to release all records in cases in which children die or are seriously injured from abuse, ruling in lawsuits brought by The Courier-Journal and the Lexington Herald Leader. He has allowed only limited deletions from such records, a decision that the cabinet has appealed.”

“Westrom said she believes HB 200 clarifies what constitutes abuse and could help officials uncover cases of death from abuse or neglect that may have been overlooked — considered accidental or from natural causes.”

“HB 200 requires the cabinet to classify abuse if the perpetrator is a parent, guardian, a relative over 17 or a partner of the child’s parent or guardian.”

“It also would create a statewide independent panel to examine all child fatalities or serious injuries from abuse or neglect that come to its attention from the local panels, health care officials or other interested parties.”
Kentucky House panel passes bill ratcheting up scrutiny on child abuse deaths
[The Courier-Journal 3/2/12 by Deborah Yetter]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update: “In just a year, 40 Hoosier kids died from abuse and neglect, according to a report released Monday by the state Department of Child Services.

The numbers, released each year, come during national Child Abuse Prevention Month. Along North Meridian, a thousand pinwheels spin as a reminder to the community.

“(They represent) the joy that we want every child’s childhood to represent,” Sharon Pierce, director of The Villages non-profit, said.

Pierce also runs the group Prevent Child Abuse Indiana. She knows as well as anyone that ever year, dozens of Hoosier kids die from abuse and neglect.

“I think the numbers today even affirm our resolve to prevent child abuse from even occurring in the first place,” Pierce said.

Of the 40 deaths, 68 percent were from abuse and 32 percent from neglect. Abuse deaths included 20 cases of head trauma, nine attributed to beating and kicking and another nine from Chronic Battered Child Syndrome.

Of the neglect deaths, causes ranged from access to firearms, accidental poisoning and even two children locked in closets.

“Forty children (dying) is devastating,” Director of the Department of Child Services Mary Beth Bonaventura said.

The Department asked that everyone do their part to help protect kids. Pay attention and reach out if you need help or know someone who might.

“It’s a sign of strength as a parent to reach out for help,” Pierce said.

Also watch for warning signs, stressors the department said played into the deaths. Three-quarters happened in homes under financial hardship, nearly half were tied to substance abuse and a third to domestic violence.

“There’s no picture of what a child abuser looks like. … It speaks to how strong the safety net in our community needs to be,” Pierce said.”

Indiana reports rise in deaths of children from abuse and neglect

[Fox 59 4/22/13 by Jill Glavan]

“The number of children who died because of abuse or neglect in Indiana surged in the first year of a statewide hotline, and the Department of Child Services said it didn’t get involved with about 90 percent of those cases until after the children concerned had died.

Forty children died of abuse or neglect in the year before July 2011, the most recent period for which data have been compiled, according to an annual report released Monday. That’s up from 25 deaths the previous year and occurred in the first year of a statewide hotline system designed to streamline reporting of such cases.

There is no one reason for the increase, but DCS officials note that many of the cases involve common factors: a child left in the care of a mother’s boyfriend, drug abuse or domestic violence.

DCS officials told The Associated Press before releasing the report that only six of the children who died had a prior history with the agency. In 2010, four of the children involved in fatal cases had prior involvement with DCS.

In one case, a 13-year-old Gary boy was beaten, kept in a dog cage and fed Ramen noodles and leftovers. DCS records show the agency investigated the boy’s parents before his death but didn’t uncover any wrongdoing in his care.

In another, a 3-year-old Fort Wayne boy died during an exorcism attempt.

Agency spokeswoman Stephanie McFarland said DCS had previous contact with nine other families of children who died. Three of those cases involved the child who died, but caseworkers did not find enough physical evidence of abuse or neglect to justify further action, she said.

Contact in the other cases involved either the person responsible for the death of the child or a parent.

Department of Child Services officials said the agency has no power to prevent abuse. In most years, DCS has no involvement with the majority of the children who die, agency Chief of Staff John Ryan told The Associated Press.

A number of deaths involve social issues that the government cannot control, officials said.

“I’m not sure DCS can do some of these things by itself,” said the agency’s new director, former Lake County Juvenile Court Judge Mary Beth Bonaventura, who took over the agency a few weeks ago.

“How do you legislate morality? How do you legislate common sense? How do you legislate people to not have addictive personalities?” she said.

Most of the child deaths reported in that period came after the September 2010 launch of the hotline to receive reports of abuse and neglect from across the state. The hotline came under criticism last year from lawmakers and children’s advocates who said hotline workers screened out calls that should have been investigated, including cases of sexual abuse. Others complained about wait times or said that even after they reported an issue to the hotline, hours passed before a DCS caseworker arrived to investigate.

A bill was introduced to require DCS to turn over all hotline reports to the local level to determine which should be investigated. But the beleaguered agency made the change on its own in early March.

DCS officials defended the hotline, saying that before it was implemented, local child protection workers might not have aggressively pursued some cases because they knew the family.

Rep. Gail Riecken, D-Evansville, said she was concerned that the Senate’s version of a new two-year state budget shaved $10 million from the $40 million annual increase for DCS that the House had proposed. Riecken, who has been a critic of the DCS hotline, said that additional money was needed to implement changes, including a proposal to require closer review of child abuse reports made by school or medical personnel, law-enforcement officials or social workers.

She said she hoped that money would be included in the compromise budget agreement that House and Senate negotiators are expected to settle this week.

“I think we need to keep reminding them of how important it is to do that at every turn,” Riecken said. “Certainly these statistics point out the necessity of returning decision making to the local level.”

Ryan said at a news conference Monday that a change in state law since the period covered in the report now allows the agency to keep reports on unsubstantiated abuse cases until the family’s youngest child turns 24 years old. Previously, those reports could only be kept for six months.

Ryan said that change had led to an increase in the number of family assessments being done by the agency.

“That lets us cross-reference prior reports, prior history, so that we can better assess the risk children in a family are exposed to,” Ryan said.

Nearly half — 48 percent — of the deaths from abuse included in the report involved children under a year old, and head injuries were the most prevalent cause.

Bonaventura said the point of the report was to learn from it and do a better job.

“The whole point is to identify trends, strengths and weaknesses in the system to reduce or eliminate the number of children who end up dead,” she said.”

Indiana child deaths due to abuse, neglect surge to 40 in 1st year of statewide hotline

[The Republic 4/22/13 by Charles Wilson/Associated Press]

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