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Kayla’s death prompts changes in child welfare investigations

Orlando — The beating death of 6-year-old Kilya McKean and mistakes
by child welfare workers who didn’t realize she was being abused prompted
immediate changes in how new investigations will be carried out.

Disciplinary action also is likely against some of the child welfare workers
involved in Kilya’s case, said Edward Fever, secretary of the state
Department of Children and Families In Tallahassee ‘” I think this is a
horrendous case,” Fever said Thursday. No child should suffer like this
child suffered Richard Adams, 24, accused of murdering his 6-year-old
daughter, Kayla McKean , bows his head while listening to a Lake County
Judge deny his bond during his first appearance at the Lake County
Detention Center on Tuesday in Tavares. Adams confessed to police that
he hit Kayla repeatedly and threw her against a wall, killing her the day
before Thanksgiving.

But, in a report to Judge Jerry Lockett, a child welfare investigator
mentioned only Kilya’s black eyes and swelling, not the other injuries; and
recommended she stay with her father. The judge agreed. “If I had known
about one-tenth of what we know now. I would not have sent that child
home.’’ Circuit Judge Jerry Lockett said Thursday. “One of the sad
tragedies or ironies is that we grant 99.9 percent of these. If there is any
doubt that the child is at risk, I’m going to take that child out of the home.

Governor elect Jeb Bush said he realizes child welfare workers on the front
line have tough jobs but said the agency could perform better with more
money and ‘the passion and commitment of new leadership’ ‘‘I think we
can do a better job, Bush said. It’s a definition of who we are as a state
when this happens.”
(Reported in the Naples Daily News December 4, 2000)
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This might not have been a headline if there had been a Guardian Ad Litem assigned to the case. It is just this sort of poor management we find and bring to the attention of the agencies and courts on almost a daily basis. Unfortunately for the children there are not enough of us for each child that needs help. Come join us in making a difference.