Cabinet Releases Reviews

{Frankfort, Kentucky}...The Cabinet for Health and Family Services released dozens of internal reviews Monday that it conducted in 2009 and 2010 after children under its supervision died or nearly died from neglect and abuse. The documents were released after a two-year legal battle between the Cabinet and the Lexington Herald-Leader and The Courier-Journal of Louisville. A November 3rd court mandate from Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepherd ordered the cabinet to turn over the records. Shepherd has ruled twice in the past two years that child-protection records in the case of a death or near-death should be public. But the cabinet resisted releasing the records until Governor Steve Beshear announced November 29th that they would be made public. The cabinet has said it will release 180 case files at a later date after they have redacted limited information from the files.