DSHS - Hiding Information - Media Strategy - On Child Death Reviews

For parents and citizens in the State of Washington I've copied in the MEDIA STRATEGY from the Washington State Child Death Review Guidelines - 2005 Revision.

In RED and BOLD I've highlighted some revelatory text from the Department of Social and Health Services' (DSHS) manual.

My response, comments, witnessing and my opinion as a 20 year Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) and Department of Early Learning (DEL) insider and whistle blower are in BLUE.

Media strategy DOH child death review guidelines 2005

8.5 The Need for a Media Strategy

Having a media strategy in place for how to respond to media requests will help the Team be clear about how media requests are handled. A media strategy not only protects information that cannot become part of the public domain, and, at the same time, permits interaction with the press in a way that helps the Team achieve its goals.

Analyzing DSHS's media campaign I see the Child Death Review Teams will not be holding the DSHS's (and the Department of Early Learning, DEL) managers' accountable (See "A good media strategy has three components). The last time I saw a report holding any manager accountable was in 1994 and 2001.  A jury held managers accountable in 2008.

A good media strategy has three components:

1. A policy of how a team interacts with the media
2. A proactive media relations plan that addresses public education and prevention campaigns
3. A media management protocol

A media strategy will help a Team:

• Generate positive publicity
• Gain the support of governmental agencies and the general public for its work and goals.

The media strategies will not be telling the public if any of child deaths were preventable, just a plan to generate positive publicity.

8.6 Guiding Principles for Developing a Media Strategy

A written strategy lends consistency to a Team's protocols and establishes a procedural order.
Some of the principles that might guide development of a media strategy include:

• Preventing child deaths is a primary goal for the CDR Team, but it is also a responsibility of the entire community.

This is where the parents and community will be blamed while they make no mention of DSHS or DEL managers.

• The review Team supports the public's right to know what it does generally.

• Confidentiality concerns are important to protect the exchange of information among
Team members and with the professional community, encourage open participation and
keep matters private which are not public business.

If they are doing anything other than public business the group must be disbanded and a report made to the public that the group had violated the public trust.

• The Team will always answer the media's questions honestly, including, as appropriate, telling the media when it cannot answer questions. Deception, pretension and omission hinder good media relationships.

HA! I wonder if they wrote that with a straight face?

• When speaking on behalf of the Team, one Team member should be designated as the spokesperson for the media. This member should be knowledgeable and articulate. The Team coordinator is a likely choice. Alternatively, the Team can consider using the public information officer at one of its member agencies.

• All Team members are aware of the Team's confidentiality policies and Statutory
mandates establishing them, even if they are unlikely to speak with the media.

You can read in another post of a DEL committee that suspended their taxpayer paid for meeting to try to figure out how they could take away the lone, sole parent on the committee, take away his first amendment rights. As Dave Barry would say, "I am not making this up."

The Team needs a cooperative media and supportive general public to reach its goals.

The media policy should be written with the participation of all Team members.
The media policy should be distributed to all Team members.

As you can read nowhere is there a goal to hold the DSHS and DEL managers accountable for failure to operate the agency as required under RCW; and then be transparent to parents and the public about that information.

A law requiring each DSHS and DEL committee to receive a copy of the State Auditor's Whistle Blower Program and the US Bill of Rights be distribued at each meeting might be in order. 

Department of Early Learning (DEL) continues to HIDE from Parents VITAL Day Care Information

A 2008 "transparency" article I wrote about the Department of Early Learning (DEL) to give parents a heads up on child day care is reprinted below.

In 2008 the Department of Early Learning (DEL) was scanning in the violations found at a complaint investigation and posting on the DEL website. Observed licensing violations were never scanned in.

DEL quit scanning in violations they found in licensed day care.

Sources told me the so-called union, SEIU, which is merely a taxpayer union (meaning your tax money goes directly from DSHS and DEL to SEIU) complained so transparent information was removed from the website by DEL.

The information that might potentially show the greatest risk to your child are the valid child protective services investigations. They have never been posted on the DEL website, neither on the daycares who continued to hold a license or on the daycares who lost their licenses.

We would like to see the media apply more critical thinking skills and logic to their reporting on these matters rather than parroting a press release statement from DEL director Betty Hyde, deputy director Bob Hamilton and/or communications manager Amy Blondin.

The Fourth Estate is welcome to contact me for research or documents they might find useful as background source material.

Here's my 2008 post:

Is the Governor's Child Care Licensing Agency Schmoozing the Media?
Is the media critically thinking through what the government feeds them for a story? What is the media's responsibility to carefully review information before going with the story?

King 5 reported this week that parents are now better informed, that transparency has been improved as the child care licensing agency DEL (The Department of Early Learning) now scans in the "Facility Licensing Compliance Agreements" into their website.

The most vital information the Governor's office (its Christine Gregoire's agency now) does not give are the child protective services (CPS) investigations.

Most important for parents to know is that the department has allowed providers and facilities with "founded" CPS charges to keep their licenses.

The parent will not find "CPS" information on the Governor's child care licensing website.

The website even tells you that.

Additionally, in direct violation of law (RCW) the parent is not notified of the licensed child care providers and facilities have current denial, suspension or revocation action pending.

Parents will not find the names of child day care providers or day care facilities who had their licenses denied, revoked or suspended in violation of a 2007 law enacted by your legislature in Washington State, RCW 43.215.370.

Parents could be using these day care providers not knowing and having no information source to go to... to know the license was revoked or denied.

Is the Governor's Child Care Licensing Agency Schmoozing the Media?

Is the media critically thinking through what the government feeds them for a story? What is the media's responsibility to carefully review information before going with the story?

King 5 reported this week that parents are now better informed that transparency has been improved as the child care licensing agency DEL (The Department of Early Learning) now scans in the "Facility Licensing Compliance Agreements" into their website.

The most vital information the Governor's office (its Christine Gregoire's agency now) does not give are the child protective services (CPS) investigations.

Most important for parents to know is that the department has allowed providers and facilities with "founded" CPS charges to keep their licenses.

The parent will not find "CPS" information on the Governor's child care licensing website.

The website even tells you that.

Additionally, in direct violation of law (RCW) the parent is not notified of the licensed child care providers and facilities that are currently in denial, suspension or revocation action.

Parents will not find the names child care providers or facilities who had their licenses denied, revoked or suspended.

Both of those are required by law.

Some parents could be using these providers (who sometimes continue to then provide unlicensed care).