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When The Need To Know Outweighs Privacy: Granting Access To Child Welfare Records In The 50 States, Courtney Barclay

Courtney Barclay

In 2013, the Kansas City Star, reported that, despite thirteen years of transparency under a records disclosure law, the Missouri Department of Social Services initially declined to requests for information regarding three tragic cases of child abuse in 2012, including one fatality. The state disclosure law permits the director of DSS to release information in these kinds of cases. Yet, the Department refused to release records, citing the need to avoid “hinder[ing] the criminal justice system.” This refusal to provide information seemed contrary to more than a decade of policy since the passage of the Missouri disclosure law in 2000 …