KRS 620.055: External child fatality and near fatality review panel -- Creation --

Members -- Meetings -- Duties -- Responsibilities -- Information required to be

provided to members -- Report and response -- Annual reports --

Confidentiality -- Destruction o f information following conclusion of panel's

examination -- Application of open records and open meetings law --

Limitation of liability -- Proceedings are privileged -- Annual evaluation of

panel's work.

(1) An external child fatality and near fa tality review panel is hereby created and

established for the purpose of conducting comprehensive reviews of child fatalities

and near fatalities, reported to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services,

suspected to be a result of abuse or neglect. The pan el shall be attached to the

Justice and Public Safety Cabinet for staff and administrative purposes.

(2) The external child fatality and near fatality review panel shall be composed of the

following five (5) ex officio nonvoting members and seventeen (17) voting

members:

(a) Two (2) members of the Kentucky General Assembly, one (1) appointed by

the President of the Senate and one (1) appointed by the Speaker of the House

of Representatives, who shall be ex officio nonvoting members;

(b) The commissioner of the Department for Community Based Services, who

shall be an ex officio nonvoting member;

(c) The commissioner of the Department for Public Health, who shall be an ex

officio nonvoting member;

(d) A family court judge selected by the Chief Justice of the K entucky Supreme

Court, who shall be an ex officio nonvoting member;

(e) A pediatrician from the University of Kentucky's Department of Pediatrics

who is licensed and experienced in forensic medicine relating to child abuse

and neglect to be selected by the Attorney General from a list of three (3)

names provided by the dean of the University of Kentucky School of

Medicine;

(f) A pediatrician from the University of Louisville's Department of Pediatrics

who is licensed and experienced in forensic medicine rel ating to child abuse

and neglect to be selected by the Attorney General from a list of three (3)

names provided by the dean of the University of Louisville School of

Medicine;

(g) The state medical examiner or designee;

(h) A court-appointed special advoca te (CASA) program director to be selected

by the Attorney General from a list of three (3) names provided by the

Kentucky CASA Network;

(i) A peace officer with experience investigating child abuse and neglect

fatalities and near fatalities to be selected by the Attorney General from a list

of three (3) names provided by the commissioner of the Kentucky State

Police;

(j) A representative from Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky, Inc. to be selected by

the Attorney General from a list of three (3) names provided by the president

of the Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky, Inc. board of directors;

(k) A practicing local prosecutor to be selected by the Attorney General;

(l) The executive director of the Kentucky Domestic Violence Association or the

executive director's designee;

(m) The chairperson of the State Child Fatality Review Team established in

accordance with KRS 211.684 or the chairperson's designee;

(n) A practicing social work clinician to be selected by the Attorney General from

a list of three (3) names provided by the Board of Social Work;

(o) A practicing addiction counselor to be selected by the Attorney General from

a list of three (3) names pr ovided by the Kentucky Association of Addiction

Professionals;

(p) A representative from the family resource and youth service centers to be

selected by the Attorney General from a list of three (3) names submitted by

the Cabinet for Health and Family Services;

(q) A representative of a community mental health center to be selected by the

Attorney General from a list of three (3) names provided by the Kentucky

Association of Regional Mental Health and Mental Retardation Programs,

Inc.;

(r) A member of a cit izen foster care review board selected by the Chief Justice

of the Kentucky Supreme Court;

(s) An at-large representative who shall serve as chairperson to be selected by the

Secretary of State;

(t) The president of the Kentucky Coroners Association; and

(u) A practicing medication -assisted treatment provider to be selected by the

Attorney General from a list of three (3) names provided by the Kentucky

Board of Medical Licensure.

(3) (a) The appointing authority or the appointing authorities, as the case ma y be,

shall have appointed panel members. Initial terms of members, other than

those serving ex officio, shall be staggered to provide continuity. Initial

appointments shall be: five (5) members for terms of one (1) year, five (5)

members for terms of two (2) years, and five (5) members for terms of three

(3) years, these terms to expire, in each instance, on June 30 and thereafter

until a successor is appointed and accepts appointment.

(b) Upon the expiration of these initial staggered terms, successors sh all be

appointed by the respective appointing authorities for terms of two (2) years

and until successors are appointed and accept their appointments. Members

shall be eligible for reappointment. Vacancies in the membership of the panel

shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointments.

(c) At any time, a panel member shall recuse himself or herself from the review

of a case if the panel member believes he or she has a personal or private

conflict of interest.

(d) If a voting panel member is a bsent from two (2) or more consecutive,

regularly scheduled meetings, the member shall be considered to have

resigned and shall be replaced with a new member in the same manner as the

original appointment.

(e) If a voting panel member is proven to have vio lated subsection (13) of this

section, the member shall be removed from the panel, and the member shall

be replaced with a new member in the same manner as the original

appointment.

(4) The panel shall meet at least quarterly and may meet upon the call of the

chairperson of the panel.

(5) Members of the panel shall receive no compensation for their duties related to the

panel, but may be reimbursed for expenses incurred in accordance with state

guidelines and administrative regulations.

(6) Each panel membe r shall be provided copies of all information set out in this

subsection, including but not limited to records and information, upon request, to be

gathered, unredacted, and submitted to the panel within thirty (30) days by the

Cabinet for Health and Family Services from the Department for Community Based

Services or any agency, organization, or entity involved with a child subject to a

fatality or near fatality:

(a) Cabinet for Health and Family Services records and documentation regarding

the deceased or injured child and his or her caregivers, residents of the home,

and persons supervising the child at the time of the incident that include all

records and documentation set out in this paragraph:

1. All prior and ongoing investigations, services, or contacts;

2. All records of services to the family provided by agencies or individuals

contracted by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services; and

3. All documentation of actions taken as a result of child fatality internal

reviews conducted pursuant to KRS 620.050(12)(b);

(b) Licensing reports from the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Office of

Inspector General, if an incident occurred in a licensed facility;

(c) All available records regarding protective services provided out of state;

(d) All records of services provi ded by the Department for Juvenile Justice

regarding the deceased or injured child and his or her caregivers, residents of

the home, and persons involved with the child at the time of the incident;

(e) Autopsy reports;

(f) Emergency medical service, fire d epartment, law enforcement, coroner, and

other first responder reports, including but not limited to photos and

interviews with family members and witnesses;

(g) Medical records regarding the deceased or injured child, including but not

limited to all records and documentation set out in this paragraph:

1. Primary care records, including progress notes; developmental

milestones; growth charts that include head circumference; all

laboratory and X-ray requests and results; and birth record that includes

record of delivery type, complications, and initial physical exam of

baby;

2. In-home provider care notes about observations of the family, bonding,

others in home, and concerns;

3. Hospitalization and emergency department records;

4. Dental records;

5. Specialist records; and

6. All photographs of injuries of the child that are available;

(h) Educational records of the deceased or injured child, or other children residing

in the home where the incident occurred, including but not limited to the

records and documents set out in this paragraph:

1. Attendance records;

2. Special education services;

3. School-based health records; and

4. Documentation of any interaction and services provided to the children

and family.

The release of educational records shall compl y with the Family Educational

Rights and Privacy Act, 20 U.S.C. sec. 1232g and its implementing

regulations;

(i) Head Start records or records from any other child care or early child care

provider;

(j) Records of any Family, Circuit, or District Court inv olvement with the

deceased or injured child and his or her caregivers, residents of the home and

persons involved with the child at the time of the incident that include but are

not limited to the juvenile and family court records and orders set out in thi s

paragraph, pursuant to KRS Chapters 199, 403, 405, 406, and 600 to 645:

1. Petitions;

2. Court reports by the Department for Community Based Services,

guardian ad litem, court -appointed special advocate, and the Citizen

Foster Care Review Board;

3. All o rders of the court, including temporary, dispositional, or

adjudicatory; and

4. Documentation of annual or any other review by the court;

(k) Home visit records from the Department for Public Health or other services;

(l) All information on prior allegations of abuse or neglect and deaths of children

of adults residing in the household;

(m) All law enforcement records and documentation regarding the deceased or

injured child and his or her caregivers, residents of the home, and persons

involved with the child at the time of the incident;

(n) Mental health records regarding the deceased or injured child and his or her

caregivers, residents of the home, and persons involved with the child at the

time of the incident; and

(o) All supervisory consult notes, documents, and information related to all fatal

and near fatal cases.

(7) The panel may seek the advice of experts, such as persons specializing i n the fields

of psychiatric and forensic medicine, nursing, psychology, social work, education,

law enforcement, family law, or other related fields, if the facts of a case warrant

additional expertise.

(8) The panel shall have full access to The Workers I nformation System, known as

TWIST, and the internet The Workers Information System, known as iTWIST, that

are maintained by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

(9) The panel shall be provided with the quarterly System Safety Review Report that is

submitted to the Safety Action Group (SAG) and with any additional reports,

minutes, and recommendations from the SAG meetings that are not part of the

recommendations incorporated in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services

Annual Fatality Report.

(10) The panel shall post updates after each meeting to the website of the Justice and

Public Safety Cabinet regarding case reviews, findings, and recommendations.

(11) The panel chairperson, or other requested persons, shall report a summary of the

panel's disc ussions and proposed or actual recommendations to the Interim Joint

Committee on Families and Children of the Kentucky General Assembly monthly

or at the request of a committee co -chair. The goal of the committee shall be to

ensure impartiality regarding the operations of the panel during its review process.

(12) (a) The panel shall publish an annual report by February 1 of each year consisting

of case reviews, findings, and recommendations for system and process

improvements to help prevent child fatalities and near fatalities that are due to

abuse and neglect. The report shall be submitted to the Governor, the

secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, the Chief Justice of

the Supreme Court, the Attorney General, the State Child Abuse and Neg lect

Prevention Board established pursuant to KRS 15.905, and the director of the

Legislative Research Commission for distribution to the Interim Joint

Committee on Families and Children and the Interim Joint Committee on

Judiciary.

(b) The panel shall determine which agency is responsible for implementing each

recommendation, and shall forward each recommendation in writing to the

appropriate agency.

(c) Any agency that receives a recommendation from the panel shall, within

ninety (90) days of receipt:

1. Respond to the panel with a written notice of intent to implement the

recommendation, an explanation of how the recommendation will be

implemented, and an approximate time frame of implementation; or

2. Respond to the panel with a written notice that the a gency does not

intend to implement the recommendation, and a detailed explanation of

why the recommendation cannot be implemented.

(13) (a) Information and record copies that are confidential under state or federal law

and are provided to the external child fatality and near fatality review panel by

the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, the Department for Community

Based Services, or any agency, organization, or entity for review shall not

become the information and records of the panel and shall not lose their

confidentiality by virtue of the panel's access to the information and records.

(b) The original information and records used to generate information and record

copies provided to the panel in accordance with subsection (6) of this section

shall be maintained by the appropriate agency in accordance with state and

federal law and shall be subject to the Kentucky Open Records Act, KRS

61.870 to 61.884.

(c) All open records requests shall be made to the appropriate agency, not to the

external child fatality and near fatality review panel or any of the panel

members.

(d) Information and record copies provided to the panel for review shall be

exempt from the Kentucky Open Records Act, KRS 61.870 to 61.884.

(e) At the conclusion of the panel's examinati on, all copies of information and

records provided to the panel involving an individual case shall be destroyed

by the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet.

(14) (a) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the portions of the

external child fatality and near fatality review panel meetings during which an

individual child fatality or near fatality case is reviewed or discussed by panel

members may be a closed session and subject to the provisions of KRS

61.815(1) and shall only occur following the conclusion of an open session.

At the conclusion of the closed session, the panel shall immediately convene

an open session and give a summary of what occurred during the closed

session.

(b) The external child fatality and near fatality review panel shall develop a

procedure for discussion of cases that are being reviewed by the panel with

the agency that was responsible for the investigation of the case and shall

include the following requirements:

1. Any discussions about a case shall be held in a closed session;

2. Anything said by an employee of the investigating agency shall not be

used as evidence in any civil, criminal, or administrative hearing;

3. Any employee of the investigating agency may attend with the

employee or employees who investigated the case being discussed; and

4. The investigating agency shall not be asked to attend until after final

judgment was entered by the court in that case or the Commonwealth

declined to prosecute the case.

(15) Each member of the external child fatality and ne ar fatality review panel, any

person attending a closed panel session, and any person presenting information or

records on an individual child fatality or near fatality shall not release information

or records not available under the Kentucky Open Records Act, KRS 61.870 to

61.884 to the public.

(16) A member of the external child fatality and near fatality review panel shall not be

prohibited from making a good -faith report to any state or federal agency of any

information or issue that the panel member be lieves should be reported or disclosed

to facilitate effectiveness and transparency in Kentucky's child protective services.

(17) A member of the external child fatality and near fatality review panel shall not be

held liable for any civil damages or criminal penalties pursuant to KRS 620.990 as

a result of any action taken or omitted in the performance of the member's duties

pursuant to this section and KRS 620.050, except for violations of subsection (13),

(14), or (15) of this section.

(18) The proceedings, records, opinions, and deliberations of the external child fatality

and near fatality review panel shall be privileged and sha ll not be subject to

discovery, subpoena, or introduction into evidence in any civil or criminal actions

in any manner that would directly or indirectly identify specific persons or cases

reviewed by the panel. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to restrict or

limit the right to discover or use in any civil action any evidence that is

discoverable independent of the proceedings of the panel.

(19) The Legislative Oversight and Investigations Committee of the Kentucky General

Assembly shall conduct an annual evaluation of the external child fatality and near

fatality review panel established pursuant to this section to monitor the operations,

procedures, and recommendations of the panel and shall report its findings to the

General Assembly.