Kids and social workers at risk

About 2,700 of Kentucky's 4,550 social workers answered a survey on how their jobs could be made safer, after one of their own, Boni Frederick, was slain Oct. 16 when she took a baby to his mother's home in Henderson for a court-ordered visit. The mother and boyfriend were indicted for murdering Frederick.

The social workers' responses show they know what reforms are needed -- things like neutral visitation houses, some sort of panic-button communication devises, a "buddy up" policy for high-risk home visits or security aides to accompany them to high-risk homes. Kentucky lawmakers already are drafting legislation.

But the Ohio death of three-year-old foster child Marcus Fiesel in August and the indictment of his foster parents also remind us of that other at-risk group in this equation -- vulnerable children. The Marcus case involving Butler, Hamilton and Clermont counties demonstrated the need for tougher screening of wannabe foster-parents and automatic cross-reporting of criminal conduct such as domestic violence. Also, this case should warn us that any wholesale social-work shift to using neutral visitation houses must not come at the expense of surprise home visits, which are likelier to uncover abuses such as the upstate Ohio case of caged children.

I wonder if lawmakers will be able to increase protections for either group -- social workers or caseload children -- without designing a holistic system that balances the needs of both.