Chas Sisk with The Tennessean reports today of a bill that would lay out required disclosures of child death records by DCS. Such records were at the heart of a lawsuit last year led by The Tennessean. Here is an excerpt from Sisk’s story.
House lawmakers gave initial approval Wednesday to a bill that sets new disclosure rules for the Department of Children’s Services.
The House Civil Justice Subcommittee unanimously approved House Bill 1505 on a voice vote Wednesday afternoon after members raised no objections to the measure. The bill lays out the disclosures DCS must make when a child dies or comes close to death, and it says a full report must be made once an investigation is concluded.
State Rep. John DeBerry, D-Memphis, said he consulted the department in drafting the bill. He told the subcommittee that the measure “codifies and memorializes” current practices at DCS, which has begun posting records on fatal and near-fatal cases following a court battle led by The Tennessean.
But the bill sets minimum standards for disclosure short of the reports currently released by the department. DeBerry said he would consider future changes to the measure.
