Oklahoma lawmaker urges limits on secrecy in records

State records dealing with juvenile offenders or children in state custody who are abused or killed should remain open, a state legislator said Friday.

Rep. Kris Steele, chairman of the House Children and Juvenile Law Reform Committee, said he is concerned records could be categorized with psychological and medical records that are confidential.

Steele, R-Shawnee, told the panel to come up with language making it clear a state agency’s report dealing with services provided to children would not be kept secret. He removed a recommendation stating that social records should be kept confidential because he said the wording was too broad.

"I want to err on the side of making sure we have full disclosure,” Steele said. "I believe there’s value in providing public accountability as it pertains to a service that is paid for with taxpayers’ money.”

The committee in November finished two years of work refining regulations involving children and juveniles. The work, which will be drafted into legislation for this year’s legislative session, was authorized as part of a law passed in 2006 to reform the state’s child welfare system after the death of 2-year-old Kelsey Smith-Briggs of Meeker.

"If there’s a question or a situation in the death or a near death of a child, I want to make sure that we know what we’re doing and what we’re not doing perhaps in relation to fulfilling the mission of that agency,” Steele said.

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