While Democrats are calling for a broad, independent investigation into the Department of Children’s Services acknowledgment that 31 children died in the past year while under DCS oversight, The Tennessean reports this email from Gov. Bill Haslam on his own efforts.
“The death of one child in Tennessee is too many,” Haslam said in an emailed statement. “I am currently reviewing the data to better understand how we rank with other states when you compare apples to apples in how we’re collecting and accounting for the information. I’m also reviewing historical data for Tennessee.”
…(DCS Commissioner Kate) O’Day urged caution in drawing conclusions about what the child death numbers actually meant.
“It’s important to look at the bigger context for all of these numbers,” O’Day said in a telephone interview Friday.
“Kids are coming to our department in a variety of ways. Some are already injured or medically fragile, and that’s the reason that we are called upon to get involved. And they may subsequently die. So you’ll see those figures, but they don’t mean what at first blush you think they do.”