Attorneys suing Utah over its child-welfare system have been given computerized data collected during a legislative audit of the system.
The National Center for Youth Law, a San Francisco-based group that filed a class-action suit against the state alleging the system itself abuses children in its care, filed a subpoena on Utah auditor general Wayne L. Welsh Oct. 23. The attorneys sought material gathered for a still-incomplete audit of the child-welfare system, said M. Gay Taylor, legislative general counsel.Preliminary results of that legislative audit were critical of foster care and child-protective services programs. Auditors cited problems in child-abuse investigations, foster-care placements and training of staff and foster parents. They also decried inconsistencies in how policies are implemented and in the review process.
The audit will be completed in a few weeks.
Taylor briefed members of the Legislature's audit subcommittee about the suit Tuesday.
Rather than fight the subpoena, state officials decided to work with the center, giving as little information as possible until completion of the audit, she said.
According to Taylor, the center agreed to accept the electronic data, and the auditors are giving the same material to the attorney general's office, which will have to defend the state in the lawsuit.
The center has agreed not to make public any information contained in electronic files until auditors have completed and released their report, an attorney with the National Center for Youth Law said. After that, the center agrees to keep confidential "fact-specific" information that could be used to identify any individual.
After the meeting, the Deseret News asked if auditors were making a distinction between photocopies of documents and electronic material because information could be filtered out before data was placed on computer. Taylor said no, the electronic information "was the main thing they wanted."
Taylor's appearance was unusual because the subcommittee agenda, when distributed early to reporters, didn't indicate that Taylor would speak or that the suit would be discussed. As she began, Rep. Kelly C. Atkinson, D-West Jordan, interrupted to ask if the meeting shouldn't be closed.
Taylor said it wasn't necessary because she would be discussing material contained in public documents.