Secret names . . . Confidentiality protects adults, not kids

San Diego Union-Tribune, The (CA)

Did Malachi Jermaine McBride-Roberts have a chance in this world? We'll never know. He died last month, days before his second birthday, of blunt-force trauma to the head. His foster mother, Linda Coleman, 47, has entered a plea of not guilty to murder and assault charges.

We do know, however, that he didn't have the best start in life. He was born to a 21-year-old father and a 16-year-old mother, who herself was in foster care since she was 9 months old. When mom ran away, Malachi went to another foster home, a two-bedroom apartment he shared with his foster mother and three other children, ages 2, 9 and 11.

Why did he die that way on that day in that place? Were caseworkers aware of previous abuse there? The public won't know unless his foster mother goes to trial or someone spends much money and time in court hoping against hope to get Malachi's official files. State law, unfortunately, requires that most information on children who die while under the care of county protective services be kept confidential.

The dead children are beyond privacy concerns. This law protects only the adults, including child care professionals responsible for deciding kids' placement and protecting them there.

Horrors such as Malachi's don't happen daily. When they do, they can expose flaws in protective procedures, laws or personnel. But the caseworkers' union has the clout in the Legislature to kill bills that allow naming their names.

State Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, has a bill requiring the release within 10 days of county files on a child who dies of abuse or neglect; the minors' names could be redacted. To keep the bill alive, it now includes redacting caseworkers' names as well.

As the open-records advocate Californians Aware notes, no other adults linked in any way to the death of a child -- not lifeguards, cops, doctors -- are given such anonymity. The caseworkers' names, the findings of any county inquiry and any disciplinary action should be public information. But without major changes in the Legislature, Migden's bill will have to do.