From The Denver Post: When four boys who could not speak or use the bathroom were rescued from a filthy Denver apartment, seven years after three older siblings were taken from the same parents, child protection authorities had this to say:

Nothing.

They believe they were bound by confidentiality law from saying anything about the case, even as public outrage grew and blame was heaped on Denver County child welfare.

Human services authorities will not say whether they received any calls to the child abuse hotline, as the family’s neighbors said they made. Nor whether they visited the home in the years since the first three kids, also nonverbal and not potty-trained, were taken away and adopted by other families. Not even whether they went to court to ask a judge to remove the boys born after their parents lost a court battle to keep their first three children.

Instead, the community was left in the dark.

Across the nation, child advocates are pushing for more transparency in child abuse and neglect cases, arguing that confidentiality impedes reform and that it’s possible to answer questions about how the system broke down without violating a child’s privacy.

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