The start of the 2017 legislative session is still a couple of months away, but the groundwork for what hopefully will become one of its most significant laws began last week.
It kicked off with the first meeting of the House Task Force on Child Abuse and Exploitation Prevention, which House Speaker Greg Stumbo authorized earlier this fall to see what more we can do to protect children, whether they are at home, on the playground, at camp or school or anywhere in-between.
The bipartisan committee is working closely with Attorney General Andy Beshear, who appeared before the task force with other members from his office.
In their presentation, they focused on several pieces of legislation that have been debated, but not passed, in previous legislative sessions.
One of those, which received overwhelming support earlier this year in the House, would establish background checks for staff and counselors at youth camps, something nearly 30 other states already require.
To highlight the need for this step, the Attorney General’s office pointed to a long-term national study looking at camps that accessed the FBI’s database between 2003 and 2011. One-third of the 100,000 applicants screened had a criminal record of concern, and one-third of those had been convicted of a violent felony, a sex crime or a crime against children or animals. Many also used fake names on their applications, but were detected through their fingerprints.
Other initiatives that could be included in next year’s legislation would prohibit registered sex offenders from being present on public playgrounds; would require schools and daycares to be notified when there are legal changes in contact orders for children; and would require school superintendents to access the child abuse and neglect registry when making hiring decisions. Parents would have access as well when deciding what private childcare providers to hire.
The statistics show the need for this type of law is there. In 2015, the state investigated more than 54,000 cases of potential mis-treatment and ultimately determined that 27,000 children had been abused or needed some form of state services.
Most of the children suffered from neglect, and substance abuse was a factor in more than half of the cases. Family violence was listed as a risk factor nearly 40 percent of the time.
In early September, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services released its latest annual report on the worst cases of child abuse. It found that there were more than 330 children who either died or were severely injured across the commonwealth over the past five fiscal years. A closer look at those cases in which the state had prior involvement found that one or both parents, a step-parent or a partner of a parent were responsible for four-fifths of the deaths and severe injuries.
Over the last two decades, the state has ramped up efforts to better track the causes of all childhood fatalities and how we can make improvements. Several years ago, for example, the General Assembly established an outside panel to take an unvarnished look at how government responds in the most severe cases of child abuse; and in 1996, the Department for Public Health formed a similar committee to look at all childhood deaths in which such officials as coroners are involved. This year, the General Assembly authorized raises for our social workers, a well-deserved move that will hopefully reduce staff turnover as well.
With that in mind, I would like to thank our social workers, children advocacy groups and anyone else involved in keeping our children safe. Their work is making a true difference.
While one death of a child is too many, we are seeing progress. The number of childhood fatalities – from all causes, not just abuse – declined from 603 in 2009 to 542 in 2013, the most recent year available. A majority of those were due to premature birth or unexplained causes during infancy. Motor vehicle accidents were the single-largest cause of fatalities for children one to nine years of age, and cancer-related illnesses were the second-leading cause.
The hope is that, if we can enact a new law next year targeting child abuse, we will see all of these numbers decline further.
Keeping our children safe is the first priority of families and government alike, and we all can play a part. If you know or believe a child is being abused or neglected, please don’t hesitate to call 911 or the Child Protection Hot Line, which is 1-877-597-2331.
Meanwhile, if you have any thoughts or concerns about this issue, or any other affecting the state, please let me know. You can write to me at Room 329E, Capitol Annex, 702 Capitol Avenue, Frankfort, KY 40601; or you can email me at Mike.Denham@lrc.ky.gov.
To leave a message for me or for any legislator by phone, please call 800-372-7181. For those with a hearing impairment, the number is 800-896-0305. I hope to hear from you soon.
I would like to add that this newspaper column was prepared at my direction by legislative staff. I provided information I thought was important and approved it as written.
State Rep. Mike Denham is a Democrat from Maysville and has represented House District 70 (Bracken, Fleming and Mason counties) since 2001.