Monday morning, the two people who killed Dixon resident Sandy Travis’ mother Boni Frederick, were sentenced to life in prison without parole. That afternoon, Travis said she was refocusing her effort on making sure what happened to her mother doesn’t happen to someone else, but told The J-E she believes it might.

Frederick, a social worker with the state department for children and family services, was brutally murdered during a home visit in Henderson she was facilitating. The couple responsible for the murder fled the scene and were later arrested in Illinois, according to published reports.

“I’m asking them (legislators) to protect a person so this doesn’t happen to somebody else’s family,” Travis said. “I want to see them do what they said they were going to do.”

She said with the current economic strain on families, she believes tension in homes where state social workers come in and remove children could create a more dangerous situation.

In April of last year, Kentucky lawmakers agreed to a one-time appropriation of approximately $6 million for more staff and additional security measures. However, given the state’s current budget woes, not all of the efforts envisioned have been accomplished, and state officials with the Cabinet for Health and Family Services said the money the department was awarded has been spent. Related documents released to The J-E supported that claim.

CHFS spokesperson Vicki Franklin said all of the cabinet’s buildings were evaluated for security to determine the need for safety measures.

“We are doing those (safety improvements) as resources are available,” Franklin said, but admitted she didn’t know of a working timetable for each CHFS facility.

She did stress, however, that the Cabinet has at least one office in each county, and more than one in several.

Closer to home, social workers at the CHFS office in Providence are particularly concerned about safety measures at their building, and for the safety of their workers who still conduct home visits.

Providence Family Services Office Supervisor Melea Ramin said local police have been supportive and helpful of the workers at that office, even going so far as to go with social workers on some home visits.

“They try to help us as much as possible,” Ramin said.

Of greater concern, Ramin said, is the building layout.

“Our lobby is open, and we still have no security guard,” she said.

A state safety inspection of the facility was conducted, though the outcome of that study isn’t clear. Calls to Bryan Ward, the person who apparently oversaw the study, weren’t returned, and the woman that oversees the building for a family trust, Brenda Bunch declined to discuss publicly the status of security measures or upgrades at the building in Providence. She did say, however, that the state had recently informed her it couldn’t afford the security upgrades at this time.

Budget woes are also limiting new hires with the Cabinet, and agency workers said that has posed a challenge because vacant positions aren’t being filled.

When asked if Ramin could budget the security measures, she said she doesn’t have the authority for that.

“I don’t have access to any funds whatsoever,” she said.

State Sen. Dorsey Ridley, who was heavily involved in hammering out the so-called Boni Bill that went to Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s desk in April, said he is concerned about how the issue has been handled over the last year.

“My position on this is it’s the state responsibility,” Ridley said. “It’s also the responsibility of the state to provide procedures to allow for a safe work environment. I think we’ve done some of them; I don’t think we’ve done all of them.

“I think things were moving in a positive direction, but I’m fearful that that same focus needs to be renewed.”

One of Travis’ biggest pushes was for the creation of “neutral site” locations where families would have to go to visit their children, instead of social workers bringing children to the parents’ homes. Franklin said in several Kentucky counties, CHFS has partnered with other community-based agencies to host such neutral locations in lieu of opening its own such permanent sites.

Ridley agreed it’s a “tough” issue, and said right now, he is focused on getting the implementation of safety measures back on track, such as the need for security equipment at the Providence site.

“We need that,” he said of enhanced security at the Providence CHFS facility. “It will slow somebody down and give them a chance to think about it (harming someone) a second time.”

The improved security measures, if implemented, would also give workers time to contact police if they need assistance, or allow them to prohibit some people from entering the building if they perceive them as a danger to the workers and other visitors inside.