John Cheves’s recent report on abuses and neglect in child care centers across Kentucky is must-read journalism.
Despite being shut out by state officials, Cheves obtained records from Kentucky’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services, interviewed industry experts, families and child care operators and laid bare the problems facing one our state’s most vital industries.
He talked with the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting about his findings, his plan to follow the story and a frustration that comes with reporting on Kentucky government.
This transcript is edited for length and clarity.
Jacob Ryan: What got you on to this particular story?
John Cheves: I have written a lot the last few years about nursing homes in Kentucky. They are inspected by the Office of Inspector General at the state health cabinet, and we're way behind on our nursing home inspections. More than half of them haven't had an annual inspection in years. It's been a problem since the COVID pandemic and with predictably terrible consequences for the people who live in nursing homes. And it made me curious, who else is inspected by this Office of Inspector General, and are they also having problems? Well, as it turns out, child care centers are another type of facility that this agency is supposed to be on top of. So, I did some checking around on the data that the state health cabinet has and incidents of abuse and neglect are way up — 73% over the last few years. Hotline complaints about child care facilities to the state are up 46% over the last few years. Serious injuries to children in child care are up 64%.
JR: Explain the process for how you go about getting this story from the inception to publish. What was that like?
JC: Well, the biggest obstacle I ran into is that the state of Kentucky would not communicate with me. The state cabinet in Frankfort refused to grant interviews. I asked multiple times. Under the Open Records Act, they did comply. They fought on a couple of things on a minor level, but they ultimately handed over the investigative records for the daycare facilities. So I had some idea who was getting in trouble and what for. It would have been so much better if the health cabinet officials had spoken about the problems that they are seeing, the stresses they’re facing. Unfortunately, Andy Beshear’s administration — and I've been covering Frankfort since the year 2000, since Paul Patton was governor — Andy Beshear’s administration is the least transparent of any administration I've covered in 25 years of covering state government in Kentucky. The officials just don't want to talk to you. They don't let you into the building. They don't give interviews.
JR: What do you do to follow this story? How do you continue to tell the story? Is it something that you continue to tell?
JC: I'm kind of waiting to see. We put this issue out there, will anybody in the legislature ask any questions? Will there be any hearings during the interim between now and the start of the next session in January? But otherwise, I go back a year or two later to see, all right, has the situation improved any since I last wrote about it? With a career like mine — I've been here forever — so I'm not going anywhere, and I try not to forget anything. I'll circle back to it.
