Marisa Kwiatkowski is an investigative reporter with The Indianapolis Star. She handles investigations relating to social services and welfare issues, including child abuse and neglect, poverty, elder abuse, human trafficking, domestic violence and access to mental health services.
Examples of her work:
In 2016, Marisa produced an investigation into Indiana Adult Protective Services that revealed the program was severely understaffed, underfunded and ill-equipped to handle the roughly 40,000 calls it received each year. Within weeks, state officials approved an additional $1.1 million in funding and passed a bill requiring a study and recommendations. In 2017, legislators increased the APS budget by $3 million.
Marisa and her colleagues also produced an investigation into USA Gymnastics that found top officials failed to report many allegations of sexual abuse by coaches. It also showed how predators exploited a lax culture to prey on children. As a result of the series, more than 250 women came forward with allegations of sexual abuse against former doctor Larry Nassar. He pleaded guilty and is serving time in prison. The president and board of directors of USA Gymnastics resigned. And the investigation spurred a new federal law that makes it a crime for national governing bodies to fail to immediately report sex abuse allegations.
One of Marisa's narrative pieces, "The exorcisms of Latoya Ammons," became the most-read article in The Indianapolis Star's history.
In 2012, she wrote a series about parents who falsely claimed neglect in order to secure appropriate mental health services for their children with severe mental illnesses or developmental disabilities. After the series was published, state officials pledged up to $25 million per year to close the access gap.
Marisa has earned more than 40 awards, including IRE's Tom Renner Award, the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism and a Sigma Delta Chi Award in public service journalism.
