The Kentucky Department for Community Based Services has listed 51 people on its adult caregiver misconduct registry in the year since the list's inception.
Officials expect the number to grow as people move through the appeals process. Cabinet for Health and Family Services staff attorney Dondra Meredith says the state designed the registry as a tool for adult service providers to prevent abuse, neglect, and exploitation
“We went into this whole new process without any expectations because there were no numbers kept before this on how many caregivers employed by vulnerable adult service providers were committing these offenses and then moving to other facilities and being rehired. So we think 51 at this time is a good number,” Meredith said.
Meredith says before the registry, all adult protection investigation records were confidential.
“So the providers’ response has been very positive because this is a new tool for them. If we’ve got a substantiated finding against someone, they have access to that record now.”
The registry is not available to the public. But, private family employers who hire caregivers outside of an agency can have prospective employees request their own records.
Meredith says providers are required to check the registry for prospective employees though they are not prohibited from hiring individuals with a record of misconduct. But she says providers are not hiring people listed on the registry.
Individuals are listed for 7 years or up to life in extreme cases.
