Kentucky Cash Cow Flips Off Inspector Generals

Ah Kentucky, the sweet home of blue grass and mint juleps, has a history of passing out drunk from the intoxicating milk of its cash cow on the front lawn of accountability and transparency when it comes to overhauling its Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Foster Care and Adoption Services.

Going back to 2005, Kentucky News WLWT did an investigation uncovering the first in a series of egregious transgressions in its child welfare system.

Anchor: Did the State of Kentucky approve an adoption despite allegations of abuse and neglect? Documents obtained exclusively by Target 5 show the answer is yes. Jesse Jones has more on this disturbing case.

Jesse Jones: It's all spelled out in a lawsuit against the state. It claims managers are putting money ahead of children's safety. And that the state had more than 1 million reasons to make troubled adoptions work. From the outside, this home looked almost perfect for an adoption.

Then in 2007 WLWT conducted another investigative report on systemic corruption in foster care and adoption within the state.

The report, released by Kentucky’s inspector general, revealed a culture where some caseworkers thrived on the power to control families. It claimed that some caseworkers lied to judges, falsified documents and ripped families apart all for their personal gain.

All the allegations were validated by the Kentucky Inspector General.

Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services Inspector General Investigative Report 2007

The Kentucky OIG identified several issues with child protective services and made recommendations. The recommendations were never implemented. Also, within this document was that citizens were placed on the Kentucky abuse registry without notification.

Because this is such a cash cow for Kentucky, the state never acted on its own Office of Inspector General report. The Inspector General, Robert J. Benvenuti III, who signed it was so disgusted with the system that he resigned shortly after releasing it.

Also, not in the report were the files of children and adults are online called TWIST. TWIST is the state's reporting system for Adoption Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), the federal database for child abuse and neglect. Thousands of employees within the state and even volunteers can look at the digital file of your "child abuse" case. Further there is no tracking of who looks at the file nor is there any validation system to verify the information in the records.

What this means is that, once again, false and suspect data are transmitted to generate child abuse propaganda to fabricate policies to continue feeding the state's child welfare cash cow the sweet bluegrass of public impudence as seen in this U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General's report:

Kentucky Title IVE 2006

Kentucky flipped off another Inspector General, but it did not stop there. The state, while sucking on the teat of its revenue maximization scheme cash cow, went ahead and began submitting false claims under its Title IV-E training programs.

A Kentucky social worker filed a whistleblower lawsuit, reiterating and reifying the aforementioned Inspector Generals' findings. Since the state has no false claims act, the child welfare cash cow continues to get fat.

Kentucky is not limited to flipping off Inspector Generals as it is notorious for flipping off legislators and their constituents.

                                     Leave my cash cow milk alone!