(Nashville, TN) WREG was back in court today with the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services.
DCS turned over a box with 42 files for children who died on its watch.
The files contain roughly 1600 pages and represent DCS’ interaction with the child and the fatality investigation.
The judge in the case became emotional when describing the files saying, “There are some instances where there should have been criminal prosecution and these children died.” Chancellor Carol McCoy also said, “What you’re going to find out is the Department has not been tip top. Some balls have been dropped.”
These files are the first of 200 that WREG and other media outlets sued to get.
DCS was supposed to hand over 50, but said they had no record for 8 of the children.
When asked about the missing files in court, attorneys said DCS didn’t get referrals on the children and therefore didn’t conduct an investigation.
Chancellor McCoy also told DCS that they should have already been busy pulling all of the files, because the media “wasn’t going away.”
DCS has until May 31st to turn over the next 50.
The next court date is set for June 7th.
