Child Fatality Review Team Head For DCS Resigns, Accusing Daniels Adminstration of Rigging Stats To Show Improvement

A highly-respected forensic pediatrician and professor at the IU School of Medicine resigned in frustration as head of DCS's Child Fatality Review Team. Dr. Antoinette Laskey charged in her resignation letter addressed to Gov. Mitch Daniels that DCS Director James Payne's recent claims lauding "record low deaths" from child abuse under the Daniels administration are a fraud. Dr. Laskey charged in her resignation letter that the improvements touted by Daniels and Director Payne recently reflect "no success story" but rather re-categorizing deaths resulting from child abuse as "not the responsibility of the Department of Child Services." I can no longer participate in a process that is unable to work effectively in this state," Laskey said. "Every death of a child is a tragedy and every preventable death is a lesson that must be learned so that other will not have to suffer the loss that so many of our Hoosier families have endured," she continued.

Laskey charges in her letter that Director Payne is "failing to gather objective data about child fatalities." She accused Payne of "not following best practices." Instead, she suggests the data has been skewed by "political interference." Laskey criticized legislation that has been sent to the Governor (SEA 286) that would establish regional teams to review child deaths, which she claims "have not been shown to be effective nationally."  "I cannot continue to serve in a role that is not able to effectively improve the condition of Hoosier children," Laskey concluded. Ouch. The Star's Tim Evans has more on Laskey's departure here. Payne told Evans he was "surprised by the tone of the letter." Members of the Child Fatality Review Team seemed to corroborate Laskey's concerns.