All too often, government agencies make it difficult for newspapers and the public to get information that they have a legal right to see, and that is unfortunate.

The latest example was when the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services failed to turn over documents to three newspapers.

On Thursday, Franklin County Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd ruled that the cabinet willfully withheld public information from the Lexington Herald-Leader, The Courier-Journal and the Todd County Standard. The papers had sued the cabinet seeking access to records of children the cabinet had contact with before they were killed or badly hurt as a result of abuse or neglect.

Shepherd said in cases where there has been a death or near-death of a child, the balance of the equities weighs more heavily in favor of public disclosure because of the urgent need to expose the cabinet’s actions to public scrutiny when its actions or failure to act has life-and-death situations.

The cabinet, which was ordered to pay $16,000 and more than $57,000 in legal fees incurred since this court battle began in 2010, was called out for failing to produce these documents and rightfully so.

It’s a shame that these newspapers had to endure this much trouble and delay to obtain records their readers needed to be aware of.

Shepherd did rule that the cabinet may redact only the names of child victims who are hurt but don’t die, the names of private citizens who report suspected abuse, the names of minor siblings of victims and the names of minor perpetrators.

These are reasonable withholdings, but the ones in question were clearly a matter of public record and the cabinet, with its stonewalling efforts, should have known better.

Taxpayer-funded agencies, such as the cabinet, have a duty and a responsibility to release information to the public when requested, plain and simple, and we’re glad Shepherd saw it that way as well.