Foster family expresses concern about personal information breach at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital
Jesse Bogan Oct 5, 2021 1
Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center
Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center. Photo from the medical center.
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Jesse Bogan
ST. LOUIS COUNTY — A St. Louis County woman is concerned that SSM Health isn’t doing enough to protect the private information of foster and adoptive parents who step up to care for some of the region’s most vulnerable children.
The 56-year-old woman, who only wanted to be identified by her middle name, Ann, and her husband currently have eight children living with them, ages 10, 8, 7, 6, 4, 2, 1 and 1. The children, many born dependent on opioids, initially came into their care after the state removed them from their biological parents because of allegations of abuse and neglect.
They’ve adopted three of the children. The others have ongoing cases, some that involve people in the criminal justice system. For safety concerns, Ann said she and her husband try to keep their personal information private.
“Our friends think we are nuts and maybe we are, but we love our kids with all our heart and soul and wouldn’t change a thing,” Ann said. “Except how the system works. I want other people to know how SSM took our sense of security away.”
The biological parents of one boy in their care were charged with involuntary manslaughter. That child’s personal information was breached at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Hospital. According to a Sept. 11, 2020, letter from SSM to state child welfare officials about the matter, the child’s biological mother requested electronic access to his SSM MyChart portal on July 18, 2020. Access was granted about six days later.
“Once it was realized that the biological mother should not have access, the biological mother’s access privileges were immediately revoked on August 10, 2020, in order to contain the breach and protect data from further unauthorized access or use,” the letter says.
The hospital system went on to say the biological mother had access to the boy’s name, lab results, immunizations, discharge date, upcoming appointments, insurance subscriber number and other information, including the foster parents’ names and phone number, but not their home address and email.
“SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital has taken immediate steps to investigate this event, and it is taking corrective action to prevent this from happening again,” the letter states, adding that the hospital system reported the incident to the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights, as required by federal regulations.
Although SSM indicated in the letter that Ann and her husband would receive a copy, Ann said they didn’t. She said they came across it secondhand, via a caseworker. Ann was concerned that indeed her address was obtained through the breach. She said she was also concerned by misspellings in the letter and that it was dated more than a month after the breach was detected.
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Ann said SSM hasn’t provided any additional information to her about the internal investigation.
Ann said the letter made her wonder more about another boy in their care whose biological father is in prison for armed robbery and assault. Ann said the boy’s biological grandmother was an SSM employee who reached out to her on Facebook, which alarmed Ann. She said they’d met before during a supervised visit with a caseworker but names weren’t exchanged.
“You don’t know what sets crazy people off,” Ann said.
In late July, Ann said she and her husband included their concerns in a letter to SSM’s board of directors.
“Drug addiction and violent crime was an everyday reality for our son when he was with his biological family,” they wrote. “His great grandmother went so far as to pull a gun on a social worker attempting to assist a child in dire need of help. His mother is not able to care for him as she is frequently homeless due to drug addiction. We were ecstatic when we were told we would be able to formally adopt our son but there was a very real and genuine fear that his family members might show up on our doorstep, putting us and the rest of our growing family in jeopardy.”
Ann and her husband are suspicious of cars driving by their house. They bought a German shepherd guard dog. The children aren’t allowed in the yard unattended.
“Just when they are beginning to learn to trust us and enjoy what remains of their childhood, we are forced to deny them the joy of being just regular kids,” they wrote in the letter.
Ann said SSM hasn’t taken the letter and other attempts to communicate on the second child seriously.
Asked Tuesday for comment, SSM Health said in a prepared statement: “SSM Health is committed to maintaining the privacy of everyone in our care and take very seriously our obligation to preserve the right to privacy. While we can’t speak to the specifics surrounding this case, we can say these sorts of things are extremely rare and addressed with the utmost care and concern.”
Asked how many letters SSM has written to Missouri child welfare authorities notifying them of personal information breaches, the health care system didn’t comment.
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Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center
Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center. Photo from the medical center.
Save
Jesse Bogan
ST. LOUIS COUNTY — A St. Louis County woman is concerned that SSM Health isn’t doing enough to protect the private information of foster and adoptive parents who step up to care for some of the region’s most vulnerable children.
The 56-year-old woman, who only wanted to be identified by her middle name, Ann, and her husband currently have eight children living with them, ages 10, 8, 7, 6, 4, 2, 1 and 1. The children, many born dependent on opioids, initially came into their care after the state removed them from their biological parents because of allegations of abuse and neglect.
They’ve adopted three of the children. The others have ongoing cases, some that involve people in the criminal justice system. For safety concerns, Ann said she and her husband try to keep their personal information private.
“Our friends think we are nuts and maybe we are, but we love our kids with all our heart and soul and wouldn’t change a thing,” Ann said. “Except how the system works. I want other people to know how SSM took our sense of security away.”
The biological parents of one boy in their care were charged with involuntary manslaughter. That child’s personal information was breached at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Hospital. According to a Sept. 11, 2020, letter from SSM to state child welfare officials about the matter, the child’s biological mother requested electronic access to his SSM MyChart portal on July 18, 2020. Access was granted about six days later.
“Once it was realized that the biological mother should not have access, the biological mother’s access privileges were immediately revoked on August 10, 2020, in order to contain the breach and protect data from further unauthorized access or use,” the letter says.
The hospital system went on to say the biological mother had access to the boy’s name, lab results, immunizations, discharge date, upcoming appointments, insurance subscriber number and other information, including the foster parents’ names and phone number, but not their home address and email.
“SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital has taken immediate steps to investigate this event, and it is taking corrective action to prevent this from happening again,” the letter states, adding that the hospital system reported the incident to the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights, as required by federal regulations.
Although SSM indicated in the letter that Ann and her husband would receive a copy, Ann said they didn’t. She said they came across it secondhand, via a caseworker. Ann was concerned that indeed her address was obtained through the breach. She said she was also concerned by misspellings in the letter and that it was dated more than a month after the breach was detected.
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Ann said SSM hasn’t provided any additional information to her about the internal investigation.
Ann said the letter made her wonder more about another boy in their care whose biological father is in prison for armed robbery and assault. Ann said the boy’s biological grandmother was an SSM employee who reached out to her on Facebook, which alarmed Ann. She said they’d met before during a supervised visit with a caseworker but names weren’t exchanged.
“You don’t know what sets crazy people off,” Ann said.
In late July, Ann said she and her husband included their concerns in a letter to SSM’s board of directors.
“Drug addiction and violent crime was an everyday reality for our son when he was with his biological family,” they wrote. “His great grandmother went so far as to pull a gun on a social worker attempting to assist a child in dire need of help. His mother is not able to care for him as she is frequently homeless due to drug addiction. We were ecstatic when we were told we would be able to formally adopt our son but there was a very real and genuine fear that his family members might show up on our doorstep, putting us and the rest of our growing family in jeopardy.”
Ann and her husband are suspicious of cars driving by their house. They bought a German shepherd guard dog. The children aren’t allowed in the yard unattended.
“Just when they are beginning to learn to trust us and enjoy what remains of their childhood, we are forced to deny them the joy of being just regular kids,” they wrote in the letter.
Ann said SSM hasn’t taken the letter and other attempts to communicate on the second child seriously.
Asked Tuesday for comment, SSM Health said in a prepared statement: “SSM Health is committed to maintaining the privacy of everyone in our care and take very seriously our obligation to preserve the right to privacy. While we can’t speak to the specifics surrounding this case, we can say these sorts of things are extremely rare and addressed with the utmost care and concern.”
Asked how many letters SSM has written to Missouri child welfare authorities notifying them of personal information breaches, the health care system didn’t comment.
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