Children are dying. It’s time for the state to end its secrecy.

Gina Meier-Hummel said she would strive for a “new transparent agency” when she was introduced as the secretary of the Kansas Department for Children and Families last month.

Here is a good place to start: Meier-Hummel should release records related to the foster home where 22-month-old Conner Hawes died in August.

Conner drowned in a decorative fish pond in the backyard of his foster home near Fort Scott.

The Department for Children and Families has refused to release records to The Wichita Eagle/Kansas.com regarding Conner’s case.

Those records might show whether the agency did its job to protect the safety of Conner and other foster children in the home.

They would show whether inspectors ever looked at the backyard of the home and acknowledged the existence of the fish pond. They would show whether the agency required steps to make the fish pond safe.

State foster care regulations qualify such ponds as hazards and say young children should not be around them without proper supervision.

An experienced foster parent told The Eagle recently that the state has never inspected her backyard.

The Department for Children and Families hides behind a poorly written state law when it refuses to release records about the home where Conner died. That law says records should be released if “child abuse or neglect results in a child fatality or near fatality.”

Conner’s death was ruled accidental, although that is debatable because he was outside without adult supervision when he died. Further, it is certainly possible that an accident could occur as a result of neglect.

But the Department of Children and Families said it didn’t have to release the documents because Conner’s death was determined to be accidental. In doing so, the agency can evade some level of public accountability for any possible role it played in what happened. That is simply wrong.

Meier-Hummel should not only release the records, she should work with the Legislature to change the law. The references to abuse and neglect should be removed as conditions for the release of records when a foster child dies or nearly dies.

But she shouldn’t stop there. She should encourage the Legislature to change other parts of the law that make it nearly worthless. The law contains loopholes that allow agencies other than the Department for Children and Families to object to the release of records.

That happened when The Eagle requested records regarding 3-year-old Evan Brewer, whose body was found encased in concrete in the home of his mother and his mother’s boyfriend, who have since been charged with murder.

Evan’s father, Carlo Brewer, reported concerns about his son’s safety to the Department for Children and Families in March. Evan’s body was found in September.

The city of Wichita objected to the release of the state’s records, citing an active criminal investigation. A court hearing was held that resulted in a judge sealing the documents. The Eagle was not notified of the hearing, let alone offered the chance for its attorney to argue for release of the records.

Again, the Department for Children and Families records could indicate whether the agency did anything that could have prevented Evan’s death.

For too long, the Department for Children and Families has operated under a cloak of self-preserving secrecy and a lack of accountability.

It’s time for it to stop. Children’s lives depend on it.

This story was originally published December 22, 2017 at 5:03 PM with the headline "Children are dying. It’s time for the state to end its secrecy.."