Health News
- Health And Family Cabinet Continues To Withhold More Information In Copies Of Child Abuse Records Than Judge Allowed
The state Cabinet for Health and Family Services released three more death and near-death cases involving child abuse or neglect Friday under court order, but continued to withhold critical information. It has appealed the order. The 2009 cases...
- Cabinet Files Appeal To Prevent Releasing Full Child Abuse Records; Beshear Backs Decision
On the day the state was supposed to release unadulterated records on deaths and near deaths from child abuse, under a court order, it filed an appeal to stop the process. And though Gov. Steve Beshear had ordered the Cabinet for Health and Family Services...
- More Transparency, Accountability Needed Regarding Child Abuse, Group Plans To Tell Legislators
To decrease the number of children who are killed or nearly killed by abuse and neglect, there needs to be improved transparency and accountability at the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. This was the top recommendation made by a group of social...
- Remember? State Opened Its Child-abuse Records In 1990s
Though it made big, breaking news last week, releasing state records about severe child abuse isn't new in Kentucky, writes Joseph Gerth, right, in a column in The Courier-Journal. "During Gov. Brereton Jones' term in office from 1991-1995, the...
- Beshear Says Hand Over Child Abuse Records; Cabinet Immediately Files For More Time
Gov. Steve Beshear ordered the release of "state records of children who have been killed or nearly killed as a result of abuse and neglect," reports Beth Musgrave of the Lexington Herald-Leader. (Photo by H-L's Pablo Alcala) "Transparency will be...
Health News
Head of state social services steps down amid controversy
In the wake of controversy about how her state agency handled child-abuse investigations, Kentucky's commissioner of social services has stepped down. No other details were confirmed about the resignation of Patricia Wilson, who was a career social-services employee. Her salary was $111,348.
"The cabinet has been buffeted by recent reports over its role in child abuse cases, most recently that of Amy Dye, a 9-year-old Western Kentucky girl fatally beaten by her brother in the adoptive home where the cabinet placed her at age 5," notes Deborah Yetter of The Courier-Journal.
Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd ordered the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to make records pertaining to the case public, saying the cabinet turned a "blind eye" torward the abuse. The cabinet had repeatedly argued in court that it was not obligated to release the records.
Last week, Gov. Steve Beshear ordered the release of the records, calling the details of Amy Dye's death "horrifying." The cabinet immediately sought to undercut the move. "Key lawmakers also have expressed growing dissatisfaction over how the cabinet handles cases of child abuse deaths and serious injuries," Yetter reports. (Read more)
- Health And Family Cabinet Continues To Withhold More Information In Copies Of Child Abuse Records Than Judge Allowed
The state Cabinet for Health and Family Services released three more death and near-death cases involving child abuse or neglect Friday under court order, but continued to withhold critical information. It has appealed the order. The 2009 cases...
- Cabinet Files Appeal To Prevent Releasing Full Child Abuse Records; Beshear Backs Decision
On the day the state was supposed to release unadulterated records on deaths and near deaths from child abuse, under a court order, it filed an appeal to stop the process. And though Gov. Steve Beshear had ordered the Cabinet for Health and Family Services...
- More Transparency, Accountability Needed Regarding Child Abuse, Group Plans To Tell Legislators
To decrease the number of children who are killed or nearly killed by abuse and neglect, there needs to be improved transparency and accountability at the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. This was the top recommendation made by a group of social...
- Remember? State Opened Its Child-abuse Records In 1990s
Though it made big, breaking news last week, releasing state records about severe child abuse isn't new in Kentucky, writes Joseph Gerth, right, in a column in The Courier-Journal. "During Gov. Brereton Jones' term in office from 1991-1995, the...
- Beshear Says Hand Over Child Abuse Records; Cabinet Immediately Files For More Time
Gov. Steve Beshear ordered the release of "state records of children who have been killed or nearly killed as a result of abuse and neglect," reports Beth Musgrave of the Lexington Herald-Leader. (Photo by H-L's Pablo Alcala) "Transparency will be...