Bill Gives Access to Child Abuse Files

Here's a win for child advocacy groups. From the Contra Costa Times:

The public will gain access to detailed information about children who are killed in cases of suspected abuse or neglect under a bill Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Thursday.

Until now, state privacy laws have kept hidden much of the information surrounding the deaths of children in foster care and those who died after social workers fielded reports of abuse.

Medical records, risk assessments on families, details on foster parents, logs of earlier reports of abuse and how county welfare agencies handled them remain largely shielded from public view.

SB39, which the governor signed along with five other child welfare bills, takes effect Jan. 1 and will give the public the right to much of that information without a costly, drawn-out court fight.

Read SB39 and how it fared in the California State Senate.

- Brian Aguilar