KENTUCKY
The Courier-Journal

Deborah Yetter , @d_yetter March 13, 2017

Lori Brent knew something was seriously wrong with her infant son from his piercing wail.

“His cry was totally different,” she said. “It was a cry I’d never heard before.”

But Brent was stunned when emergency room doctors told her that the 4-month-old had a broken arm, a broken leg and a fracture from a previous injury. In what she called “a mother’s worst nightmare,” she learned a babysitter was suspected of inflicting the injuries.

Now, eight years later, the Henry County mother is speaking out for Senate Bill 236, a far-reaching measure to give parents, school systems and others who run youth programs access to confidential information about whether someone has committed child abuse or neglect, as found by state social service officials.

Besides allowing parents access to such information — which doesn’t show up on a background…