Oct 19, 2006 2 min read

Following unanimous House passage, state Sen. Richard A. Kasunic’s “Kristen’s Law” proposal is on its way to the governor’s desk. The bill (Senate Bill 63) would require child welfare agencies to keep a photograph with a child’s case file at all times. Kasunic, D-Dunbar, authored the legislation to honor the memory of 4-year-old Kristen Tatar, who endured what he called “unspeakable abuse” in her starvation death in Kittanning, Armstrong County, in 2003.

“The thought of what this innocent child endured, how she died, and how our social service agencies failed her will always haunt me,” Kasunic said. “This bill honors her memory by assuring that such an avoidable bureaucratic mishap will never hurt another child in Pennsylvania.”

Kristen Tatar’s parents locked her in the attic without food or water for five days. Her emaciated body was found in a small cooler thrown out with the trash. She weighed only 11 pounds at the time of her death.

Since no photograph was included in Kristen’s case file when her case was transferred between agencies, it is believed that a caseworker – who visited Kristen’s new home just weeks before her death – mistakenly identified another child as Kristen.

The Fayette County lawmaker said the new regulation would not be difficult or costly for agencies to implement, and that many agencies already possess cameras.

At Kasunic’s request, the state Department of Public Welfare agreed to administratively implement the provisions of his legislation last year. While pleased that the provisions of the bill are in effect, Kasunic said enactment would “assure that the new protections have the force of law behind them.”

Kasunic’s bill now goes to the governor for enactment. He said the governor has already assured him that he would sign the bill into law.