Health News
- Six Of 41 Child-abuse Fatalities Show Improper Follow-up By Cabinet For Health And Family Services, Herald-leader Analysis Finds
The way child-abuse deaths are reviewed in Kentucky continues to be problematic. Looking at the 41 child fatalities in 2009 and 2010, Lexington Herald-Leader reporters Beth Musgrave and Bill Estep found at least six cases in which the Cabinet for...
- Judge Rails Against State's Handling Of Child-abuse Records, Beshear's Defense Of Cabinet
The judge who handled the case of 9-year-old Amy Dye, who was beaten to death last year by her adoptive brother, sent an op-ed piece to several newspapers criticizing Gov. Steve Beshear's move to back the Cabinet for Health and Family Services in...
- 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...
- Legislators To Discuss Child Abuse Report Monday; Chilling Stories Emerging About Abuse Trends
After a wave of stories pertaining to child abuse records made front-page news this week, the Interim Joint Health and Welfare Committee will meet Monday to discuss the Cabinet for Health and Family Services' recently released report on child-abuse...
Health News
Under scrutiny and criticism, cabinet changes way it handles reviews of children who die or nearly die from abuse or neglect
The Cabinet for Health and Family Services is now using a standard form when conducting internal reviews involving children who died or nearly died from abuse or neglect. Staff are now also being instructed to focus on specific topics in the reports. These are some of the ways the cabinet has changed how it handles the reviews since it came under "intense scrutiny from the state's largest newspapers," reports Beth Musgrave for the Lexington Herald-Leader.
A recent Herald-Leader analysis of 84 reviews from 2009 and 2010 showed there were vast disparities between how they were conducted in different parts of the state, with some of them lengthy and detailed and others just one-page reports that sometimes didn't even include the facts of a child's death.
Teresa James, acting commissioner of the Department for Community Based Services, said the standard form allows for "a greater amount of consistency." Recommendations that stem from the reviews, which are meant to zero in on ways the cabinet could have helped avoid the outcome, will also now require action plans.
Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates, praised the effort. "This is a critical and significant step forward in terms of accountability, transparency and quality assurance," he said. (Read more)
A recent Herald-Leader analysis of 84 reviews from 2009 and 2010 showed there were vast disparities between how they were conducted in different parts of the state, with some of them lengthy and detailed and others just one-page reports that sometimes didn't even include the facts of a child's death.
Teresa James, acting commissioner of the Department for Community Based Services, said the standard form allows for "a greater amount of consistency." Recommendations that stem from the reviews, which are meant to zero in on ways the cabinet could have helped avoid the outcome, will also now require action plans.
Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates, praised the effort. "This is a critical and significant step forward in terms of accountability, transparency and quality assurance," he said. (Read more)
- Six Of 41 Child-abuse Fatalities Show Improper Follow-up By Cabinet For Health And Family Services, Herald-leader Analysis Finds
The way child-abuse deaths are reviewed in Kentucky continues to be problematic. Looking at the 41 child fatalities in 2009 and 2010, Lexington Herald-Leader reporters Beth Musgrave and Bill Estep found at least six cases in which the Cabinet for...
- Judge Rails Against State's Handling Of Child-abuse Records, Beshear's Defense Of Cabinet
The judge who handled the case of 9-year-old Amy Dye, who was beaten to death last year by her adoptive brother, sent an op-ed piece to several newspapers criticizing Gov. Steve Beshear's move to back the Cabinet for Health and Family Services in...
- 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...
- Legislators To Discuss Child Abuse Report Monday; Chilling Stories Emerging About Abuse Trends
After a wave of stories pertaining to child abuse records made front-page news this week, the Interim Joint Health and Welfare Committee will meet Monday to discuss the Cabinet for Health and Family Services' recently released report on child-abuse...