According to the Tennessean, 44 newly released case files from the Department of Children's Services contain substantial redactions of information that in some cases prevent the ability to determine the cause of death of children.    In some cases DCS redacted autopsy results, which are routinely made public by medical examiners.     Sometimes information was redacted in one part of the records, while the same information was not redacted in other parts of the file.

Davidson County Chancery Judge Carol McRoy questioned some of these redactions and the Deputy Attorney General in court explained that the redactions were required by HIPAA law.    The Judge has ordered DCS to release the files in batches of 50 and in two court orders, has specified the identifying information that DCS needs to redact in order to protect the confidentiality of the information in the records.  

In the first release of records last month, there were no such redactions.   DCS has farmed out the redactions of the records to a local temp agency in the Nashville area and is paying a lot of money per hour for this job.     

Having worked for DCS in the past, I have to question whether the money that is being spent on this litigation is necessary.    What is it that these media groups and the Tennessean are really trying to accomplish?  DCS is a bureaucracy and CPS workers have hundreds of cases they handle each year.    They are human and mistakes are bound to be made.        Ultimately, I don't think this litigation and scrutiny will change much about how the system operates.    Instead of wasting all this money on litigation, how about giving DCS more money so they can hire more staff and have more professional trainings?    Child welfare is tough work---no one ever wants to blame the families for allowing the children to enter state custody in the first place.


As I always say, the State makes the worst parent.      Placing a child in state custody should always be a last resort.

DCS central office has undergone a major re-organization, in the wake of the current lawsuits filed regarding child death investigations.     Two new deputy commissioners, one for child health and one for child safety, are starting work with the agency, as part of newly created oversight positions.    These positions will be focused on training DCS child protective services workers and strengthening the agency's child death investigatory process.

Currently the agency is being headed by interim Commissioner, Jim Henry, who took over the administration of the agency around February 5, 2013, when Kate O'Day, the previous commissioner, resigned.     Ms. O'Day had 6 positions reporting directly to her, and now due to the restructuring and shuffling of positions, Mr. Henry has 15 positions reporting directly to him.     The main focus of the $630 million dollar agency is now going to be child safety

DCS has recently provided a 113-page response to questions from the House Democratic Caucus prior to hearings in front of the state legislature next week.     Interim Commissioner Jim Henry and other top DCS officials are set to testify in front of the House Government Operations Committee on Tuesday, the Senate Health Committee on Wednesday, and the House Finance, Ways and Means Committee on Thursday.

The response provides a lot more details about the 25 children who died in state custody in 2011 and 2012, but has not addressed the number of children that have died in cases in which DCS had an open investigation of abuse or neglect, but had not yet placed the children in state custody.

The Interim Commissioner of DCS, Jim Henry, has announced that the $27 million dollar TFACTS system installed by former Commissioner Viola Miller, has finally been, mostly fixed.       A list of 1,700 defects identified a year ago have been reduced to around 383.    Jim Henry claims that the new data reveals that 14 children died in DCS custody in 2011 and 11 more died in 2012.   This number does not include children who died while part of open DCS investigations, but were not yet in the legal custody of DCS.

Nashville U.S. District Court Judge Todd Campbell suggested that DCS should compare its files to obituaries to figure out the names of deceased children and ordered DCS to report back to the Court in April.

DCS Commissioner Kate O'Day, who was appointed by Governor Haslem in January 2011, resigned yesterday, February 5, 2012, amidst allegations that the Department has mishandled cases of children who have died while abuse and neglect investigations were opened.   There have also been allegations that the record-keeping system of DCS needs to be revamped, as the initial number of child fatalities was incorrectly reported.

Governor Haslem announced on January 24th that DCS had nine child deaths unaccounted for between 2011 and 2012, which raised the number of custodial deaths to 25 in the past two years. After this revelation, Haslam appointed a senior advisor to look into DCS operations.   A federal judge has also ordered DCS to hand over its death records to a watchdog organization in January and ordered DCS to overhaul its child fatality review process within 90 days.   Turning over these records will cost DCS around $55,000.

The Governor has appointed Jim Henry, the Commissioner of DIDD, as interim Commissioner of DCS until a new Commissioner can be located.

The DCS controversy in Nashville involving child's death records continues.   Davidson County Chancery Court Judge Carol McCoy ordered the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services (DCS) to release the forms it fills out when a child dies in its care this work. Each form provides information about the child’s cause of death, the department’s prior involvement, and prior services provided to the child. The ruling came as part of a lawsuit filed Dec. 19, 2012, by The Tennessean and a coalition of a dozen other news organizations.   According to the Tennessean, Governor Bill Haslam has announced that the state would provide the records.  

Chancellor Carol McCoy ruled on Wednesday that a child's right to privacy is diminished after the child dies and the more important concern becomes what the state did or did not do to try to prevent the death.

The Chancellor directed DCS to file with the court an estimate of how long it will take to redact the confidential information from the summaries of the more than 200 other requested files and the costs involved.

The records then must be turned over to 12 news media organizations that sued under Tennessee's public records law. The media coalition was led by The Tennessean and included The Associated Press.

In related news, Tennessee officials have discovered nine more cases of children who died during the past two years while under the supervision of the state Department of Children's Services,