Lawsuit: Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services

“While the Cabinet for Health and Family Services has provided thousands of pages of the records, it hasn’t fully complied with her request, has missed deadlines set by state law, provided incomplete files and has heavily redacted the material, according to the lawsuit filed Dec. 23 in Franklin Circuit Court.

“I’m not trying to make things difficult but open records are what they are,” Mortenson, a longtime child advocate, said in an interview. “You’re legally entitled to them.”

A Health and Family Services spokeswoman responded that the cabinet is complying with Mortenson’s request and continues to do so on a “rolling basis” as it reviews case files for release and redacts some information for privacy reasons.

“Following its commitment to transparency, the cabinet has provided extensive records in response to the open records request and has continually informed the requester of its ongoing review of records and the time needed to complete the review,” spokeswoman Beth Fisher said in an email. “At this time the cabinet has provided about 8,800 pages of records with necessary redactions and is reviewing between 12,000 and 14,000 additional records.””

“In 2016, after a seven-year legal battle with the Louisville Courier Journal and the Lexington Herald-Leader, the state conceded that files it keeps of child deaths and near fatal-injuries are public records. The cabinet settled the legal battle by agreeing to pay the newspapers nearly $700,000 in penalties and legal costs.

The Todd County Standard, in a separate case, also won the right to obtain records related to the 2011 death of a child in that county who was fatally beaten after the cabinet placed her in an adoptive home.

The records of the case involving Amy Dye, 9, of Todd County, were particularly damaging. It became a symbol of systemic failures after records the state released showed state social service officials had disregarded repeated abuse allegations from teachers at her school.

No longer confidential

The cabinet for years had argued all such records were confidential but eventually agreed to abide by court rulings that found that cases in which a child dies or nearly dies from suspected abuse or neglect are subject to open records law.

There have been about 200 or more such cases per year in Kentucky over the past several years.

An outside panel that reviews all child deaths or severe injuries from suspected abuse or neglect reported in its most recent annual report that it examined 70 child deaths and 149 near-deaths in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2023. It reviewed 68 deaths and 134 near deaths of children the previous year.

Mortenson said she wants more details about how the cabinet identifies and investigates such cases.

Mortenson said she and her husband, Matthew, became foster-adoptive parents in 2016. (Such parents provide temporary care for children with the goal of reuniting them with their parents but are prepared to legally adopt.) She also helps operate Hope’s Closet, which provides free children’s clothing and other items for foster, adoptive and kinship families.”

“‘Plan of safe care’

Mortenson said she has become increasingly concerned about several areas where she sees gaps in protection for children and hopes to use the information to encourage lawmakers to strengthen laws.

One such area is how state social services staff oversee cases of newborns exposed to substances such as drugs or alcohol including those born with neonatal abstinence syndrome — in withdrawal from drugs, usually opioids, but often more than one substance.

Federal law requires state child welfare workers to create what’s known as a “Plan of Safe Care” for such newborns, meant to ensure the health and safety of the baby and support parents and caregivers.

Yet an outside panel that reviews child abuse deaths and near fatalities in Kentucky last year found in more than a third of the cases it reviewed of infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome, no record of such a plan could be found. The Child Fatality and Near Fatality External Review Panel concluded that was likely an “underestimate” of newborns without such plans.

Even as cases of infants born exposed to substances or in withdrawal have risen steadily in recent years, its report found the safety plan “is rarely available to most Kentucky families who are in dire need.” Such infants are at greater risk for health problems as well as abuse and neglect, the report said.”

“In 2024, there were 741 cases of babies with signs and symptoms of the syndrome versus 792 cases reported in 2023, according to the Kentucky Public Health Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Reporting Registry 2025 annual report.

Among its recommendations: “Every infant, including those prenatally exposed to drugs or alcohol, should leave the hospital with an appropriate plan of safe care.”

But Mortenson said she doesn’t believe that’s happening, based on records she has collected and reviewed so far.

Her complaint to the federal health agency states that she believes safety plans are only documented in “a small percentage of cases” of newborns with neonatal abstinence syndrome. Her complaint said that appears to result from failure of a health provider to diagnose and report the condition to child welfare authorities as well as the failure of Kentucky Child Protective Services (CPS) to investigate and follow up on all such cases brought to its attention.

Cases ‘screened out?’

Mortenson also said she’s concerned that in many cases of child abuse and neglect, perpetrators are not prosecuted. She’s also concerned that Child Protective Services “screens out” too many reports of suspected abuse or neglect as not meriting an investigation, a concern also highlighted by the outside panel in its most recent report.[Yeah! That is my concern, as well.]

“Screening out of CPS referrals has been a concern addressed by the panel for many years and continues to be the most frequently identified area of concern,” its report said.

The cabinet, which investigates and decides whether to substantiate suspected abuse or neglect of children, says that while reports of suspected abuse have risen over the past several years, substantiations have “steadily decreased” over the past five years.

In 2024, 127,342 suspected cases were reported while 43,668 were accepted for investigation — the rest screened out. Of those, 8,196 cases of abuse or neglect were substantiated, according to an annual report by the cabinet.

Mortenson said she believes cases may be falling through the cracks of a chronically overworked and understaffed child welfare system.

Mortenson is not a lawyer but is representing herself in her open records lawsuit. She also plans to contact state legislators and enlist their support.

“My goal is to help identify the gaps and push legislation that will help protect children,” she said. “If I can help create the rules, maybe we can save some lives.””

[Good for you!]

Oldham County mom sues Kentucky child welfare officials over records request
[Kentucky Lantern 1/26/26 by Deborah Yetter]

REFORM Puzzle Piece