NASHVILLE (AP) - The Tennessee Department of Children's Services has disciplined three high-ranking employees over child death record-keeping.
The Tennessean (http://tnne.ws/10Ucayd ) cited internal memos in reporting the demotion of team coordinator Lisa Lund, who appealed the penalty and was reinstated with a two-day unpaid suspension. The documents also noted the two-day suspension of Director of Child Safety Marjahna Hart, who is Lund's supervisor. Also disciplined was Carla Aaron the executive director of child safety, who oversees both Hart and Lund. Aaron received a written warning.
The Tennessean and other news organizations, including The Associated Press, sued the department to obtain records of children who died after agency contact with them.
The three employees are on the Child Fatality Review Team, which fell behind and failed to follow department policies, leading to court-ordered re forms.
Disciplinary records cited by The Tennessean show Lund was responsible for the fatality's team's meeting minutes, but some had errors or were incomplete and not fully reflective of the team's discussions. Lund tried to bring the records up to date months after media and the children's advocacy group Children's Rights requested them.
Aaron later found Lund left out "significant portions" of the team's minutes before they were made public. Passages left out of the first batch of documents contain key details about how DCS caseworkers made decisions about child abuse investigations.
Lund was collecting child fatality information, putting details into a digital spreadsheet as early as January 2011. However, a timeline written by Aaron shows the accuracy of the document was questioned as early as May 2012.
A memo from Department of Children's Services Interim Commissioner Jim Henry to Lund noted the early miscounts led to "significant negative public ity in statewide media outlets (print, television and radio), as well as additional scrutiny by . the federal court."
In arguing her appeal, Lund wrote to Henry that the department's reliance on a spreadsheet was "flawed."
"The spreadsheet has not been an accurate and effective means for capturing data," she wrote.
Henry rescinded Lund's demotion.
Lund and Aaron declined comment for the newspaper's report.
DSC has created a new process for tracking child fatalities, to be in place by August. It requires the department to keep thorough meeting minutes and publish an annual report of fatality review findings.