Virginia Receives B- For Child Abuse and Neglect Laws - Beckley, Bluefield & Lewisburg News, Weather, Sports

Virginia Receives B- For Child Abuse and Neglect Laws

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In Virginia, an advocacy group, looking at how effective state statutes and regulations are in preventing child abuse and neglect, gives the state a B minus for its public-disclosure laws.

More than 1,700 children died from abuse last year across the nation.

However, laws in many states shield information from the public about child abuse cases.

The groups say the lack of transparency allows flaws in state child-protection systems to go uncorrected.

Virginia earned high marks for its 2009 policy requiring mandatory public disclosure of information about abuse cases that result in a child's fatality or near fatality.

But the state gets low marks for closing child abuse and neglect court proceedings to the public.