NEWS

Report: Ky Kids dying amid drug, funding crisis

Deborah Yetter

@d_yetter

An outside panel has concluded that an epidemic of drug abuse and the acute underfunding of state social services are urgent problems facing Kentucky as a rising number of children die or suffer serious injury because of abuse or neglect.

The findings come in the annual report released Monday by the Child Fatality and Near Fatality External Review Panel, an independent body created four years ago to review the most serious cases of child abuse or neglect.

It reviewed 142 such cases of children who died or were seriously injured in 2014 and 2015. In 47 cases, children died and another 95 were so seriously injured they were deemed "near fatalities."

Drug or alcohol abuse is a "common denominator" among many of the cases the panel reviews, said Roger Crittenden, chairman of the 21-member body of state officials, medical experts, lawmakers, judges, prosecutors, advocates and others involved in the state child protection system.

The report recommends the state examine ways to reinstate family drug courts in Kentucky that had operated previously in some counties including Jefferson, but shut down in 2010 after funding ran out. It also recommends the state better address a growing public health problem of babies born addicted to drugs from impaired mothers.

And the panel has become increasingly concerned about an overloaded state social service system, worn thin by years of budget cuts, staff shortages and high employee turnover, said Crittenden, a retired Franklin Circuit judge.

The report calls for an increase in funds for the state social service system, saying that it appears the system is "grossly underfunded" to the point where it can't fulfill its mission to protect children from abuse or neglect.

"This mission is not a luxury for Kentucky children," the report said. "There should be adequate resources provided in order to deliver a full-service array to Kentucky's families and children."

A spokesman for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which oversees child protection services in Kentucky, said the agency already is working to try to upgrade its services and working conditions.

“The report highlights issues that the cabinet has identified as priority areas for improvement," Doug Hogan said. "We are committed to continuing our diligent work to ensure the safety of all children across the commonwealth and to create supportive, safe working conditions for our employees.”

The panel's recommendations address concerns state social service workers have been voicing publicly for months — especially about drug addiction and a shortage of workers to deal with a rising number of cases at the beleaguered child welfare agency, the Department for Community Based Services.

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Such pleas have escalated in recent months as workers quit or retire faster than the state can replace them, adding to the staffing shortage.

Last month, one former and one current worker appealed to the joint House-Senate Health and Welfare Committee for relief, saying conditions at the agency are placing children at risk.

"You need to ask yourself as legislators, do you want to sweep this under the rug or do you want to say enough is enough?" said Katy Coleman, a social service worker in Louisville, a region with one of the state's highest caseloads and most severe staffing shortfalls.

The panel's report recommends that Gov. Matt Bevin and the Kentucky General Assembly find ways to properly fund social services by the next budget cycle.

Crittenden said the panel wanted to make the recommendation this year to give the governor and lawmakers ample time as they begin planning for the next two-year state budget that will come before the General Assembly in 2018.

"We don't want to wait till next year," he said. "It's important to make budget recommendations this year."

Social services, along with many other state departments, have seen funding slashed since 2008, when the recession began.

The findings present a challenge for Bevin and the legislature at a time when state resources are tight and the governor has identified addressing the state's severely underfunded public pension system as a priority.

But Bevin, who also has said child protection, foster care and adoption are priorities, was able to provide social workers with a raise this year and a new salary schedule that also allows many senior employees to get pay increases.

Entry-level social workers who had started at about $32,000 a year now start at about $33,644 under the changes that took effect in September.

Workers have said they appreciate the raise but their biggest concern is the overwhelming number of cases they must take on, often involving horrific abuse of children, domestic violence, mental illness and other complex problems. Drug abuse, especially Kentucky's heroin epidemic, has worsened conditions, social workers told lawmakers last month.

"It just keeps getting worse every day," Coleman said at the November legislative meeting. "Heroin reigns supreme."

Earlier this year, another outside group spoke up on behalf of family drug courts, where individuals with substance abuse disorders get more intensive supervision and services.

The Louisville chapter of the National Council of Jewish Women called for the reinstatement in Jefferson Family Court after undertaking a "court watch" program where volunteers observed more than 1,000 cases in court where parents were involved in child abuse or neglect proceedings.

Volunteers found that drugs or alcohol were factors in nearly 75 percent of the cases they observed.

Jefferson, Fayette and several other jurisdictions had offered family drug courts until 2010 when state lawmakers unexpectedly slashed the state court budget.

Monday's report found that substance abuse by a caregiver was the most common factor in putting a child at risk of abuse or neglect among the 142 cases it reviewed year.

It said a family drug court is one of the most effective ways to combat substance abuse in caregivers.

"This single initiative may save the lives of some of our most vulnerable children," it said.

Among other findings of the panel:

The youngest children are the most likely to suffer death or serious injury from abuse or neglect. Nearly half of the cases the panel studied involved an infant under 12 months of age.
Children who suffer fatal or near-fatal injuries from abuse or neglect are likely to have previously come to the attention of state child protection officials. In 59 percent of such cases, the families had prior involvement with state social service officials with an average of 4.25 prior contacts by a social service official.
Physical abuse and abusive head trauma are the most frequent cause of child death or serious injury.
And in cases where a child died or was injured from unsafe sleep — generally in which an infant is sleeping with an adult rather than alone in a crib — 59 percent of those situations involved an adult impaired by drugs or alcohol.

The panel's report and recommendations go to the governor, legislators and other state officials.

For more information about the panel's work or to view the report, go to its website at the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet.

Contact reporter Deborah Yetter at 502-582-4228 or at dyetter@courier-journal.com.