Oklahoma lawmaker urges limits on secrecy in records
COMMITTEE REVIEWS RULES ON JUVENILE INFORMATION

BY MICHAEL MCNUTT Comments 2
Published: January 10, 2009

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

State Rep. Kris Steele, R-Shawnee, chairman of the House Children and Juvenile Law Reform Committee

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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.

What federal law says

Social records, which include medical reports, psychological evaluations and mental health treatment records of children younger than 18, are considered confidential by federal law and should not be released, the committee recommended.

Steele said most of those records already are prohibited from being released by the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, known as HIPAA.

But committee members said some social records not covered by the federal act, such as psychiatric evaluations or drug and alcohol reports, could be placed by judges in divorce or criminal cases, which would be open to the public.

Steele said he’s concerned the recommendation could have been interpreted that all agency records should be secret.

"I want it to be very clear on what’s going to be kept confidential so that we don’t diminish the accountability that could be rendered through public disclosure,” he said.

The deadline to file bills for the upcoming legislative session is Thursday.

Any language may be added later as a committee substitute to the bill.

The Juvenile Law Reform Committee, made up of judges, attorneys, professors and child advocates, felt the recommendation was necessary because of a Tulsa case in which a judge released the medical records of a minor accused of a crime. The records showed the juvenile had been raped and had mental health and illness issues, Steele said.

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.”

Rep. Kris Steele
chairman of the House Children and Juvenile Law Reform Committee