Kentucky Enhances Safety for Social Workers

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Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher said he will sign a bill aimed at improving safety conditions for social workers that was passed in reaction to the slaying of a social worker in western Kentucky, his administration said.

The General Assembly passed the legislation before it adjourned last month. It appropriates $6 million to institute safety procedures, including opening visitation centers and hiring 60 to 80 more social workers.

Visits between birth parents and abused or neglected children were also required to occur at secure locations, under the bill.

Money was also set aside for other safety measures, which could include two-way radios with panic buttons for social workers.

Fletcher was scheduled to sign the law, dubbed the “Boni bill” at a public ceremony Thursday in Louisville.

The legislation was passed in honor of Boni Frederick, who was stabbed and beaten last October when she took an infant boy for a visit at the house of his mother, Renee Terrell.

Prosecutors say that the 33-year-old Terrell and her boyfriend, Christopher Luttrell, 23, killed Frederick, stole her car and kidnapped the boy, who was found safe three days later and returned to foster care.

Terrell and Luttrell have pleaded not guilty.