News-press

June 20, 2008

 

Story comments on Web site contain confidential info, DCF says

Web site poster called improper by agency

 

 

By Rachel Myers

 

Deserved or not, the Department of Children and Families has received its share of public criticism over the past three years.

But what snagged the attention of department higher-ups and sparked an internal investigation in February, following the death of 6-year-old Joshua Jenkins, were postings on a news-press.com forum that appeared to come from someone on the inside.

The review was concluded last month with no action taken, but it raises questions of ethics and legal responsibility on the evolving electronic media frontier.

Cookie Coleman, DCF director for Circuit 20, said the issue is not that the posts were negative toward the department, rather that at least one post contained information confidential to Joshua's case, details that had not been released to the public and would have been illegal to divulge.

"I think what's pertinent really is that no one is trying to infringe upon a person's right to free speech and a person's right to their opinion," Coleman said. "But they need to do it within the confines of what is legal."

The posts, made by someone who goes by the screen name "SilentNoMore," detailed timelines of the case and named several other employees within the department. Coleman forwarded the concern to the Office of the Inspector General in Tallahassee, which investigates state agencies.

The focus of that probe was whether seven individuals who accessed Joshua's case file did so without a legitimate business purpose. There were others who had viewed the file, but the reasons behind why these seven obtained the information was in question. They were two DCF employees, a Pasco County Sheriff's Office investigator, a secretary at Lutheran Services, two employees at a doctor's office and an employee of the Children's Advocacy Center.

Case information can be accessed by a multitude of people, including case workers, administrators, detectives and doctors. But those people aren't supposed to view it without a reason. The department can find out who accessed what on the electronic case file network by tracking password-encoded log-ins.

After sifting through facts, the inspector general found no one violated department rules by accessing information.

Coleman said that doesn't mean the postings were appropriate.

The main post in question was made Feb. 21. SilentNoMore hasn't made a post since April 5, according to news-press.com records.

Several of the posts defended child protection investigator Nyasha Johnson, who worked Joshua's case and that of 3-year-old Zahid Jones, who died in May 2007. DCF reassigned Johnson to a non-investigative position in December, and she quit in January. But, as an investigator, she would have had access to and knowledge of that inside information, according to department spokeswoman Erin Gillespie.

The News-Press tried to contact Johnson on Thursday, but she did not respond.

Gillespie said even if the individual were identified, the agency would not pursue action other than internally at this point. The incident has led to policy change within the department. A random review of cases for training purposes is no longer allowed. Additionally, Coleman is enforcing tighter restriction of information for high-profile cases and has met with circuit supervisors to review what kind of details can be made public, and what needs to be kept under lock.

News-press.com launched its digital forums about 21Ú2 years ago, and in February, it started a "story chat" feature that allows online readers to comment at the bottom of an article on the Web site.

"These online features are designed to create a virtual town hall so readers can comment about stories, get involved in discussions about community issues and share information with the newspaper and the public," said Cindy McCurry-Ross, The News-Press' senior managing editor.

Sam Terilli, a lawyer and professor of journalism at the University of Miami, said that with the advent of blogs it is the government agency with blogging employees that is left holding the heft of responsibility in these cases.

"I don't see it so much as an ethical problem for the newspaper as a practical problem for the government agency," Terilli said. "And if the person is leaking confidential information that ought not be repeated, it's up to the public agency to mind their own shop."

He said the same type of leaks took place all the time in years past. The difference is now their reach is larger. He described this type of situation as "the tip of the iceberg," something that will undoubtedly happen again.

"I think it's good in a lot of ways because it requires government agencies, business, really anyone with information regarding the public to be more careful with what they classify," he said. "Certainly, some things have to be confidential, but too often, there is this urge to classify everything, and that doesn't always work, particularly when people have a means of communication as powerful as the Internet."