INDIANAPOLIS — Governor Eric Holcomb has signed into law a new effort to improve how the state shares information about child abuse and neglect deaths.Signed into law on Thursday, the act will require the Indiana Department of Child Services to disclose more details when a child dies from abuse or neglect.
“I’m thankful for the unanimous support of the General Assembly and Governor Holcomb in protecting vulnerable children,” said Lauer. But lawmakers say it doesn’t contain names of perpetrators, victims, locations, or enough detail to understand what went wrong. Judah died in 2021, but the 2021 state child fatality report won’t be released until the end of 2022.
“Our goal is to learn from these tragedies, to give these kids a voice when now they don't have a voice anymore,” Lauer said. The state will also have to disclose whether the child had an open CHINS case, which is when a court gets involved.