Posted Sunday April 22, 2012 --- 7:33 p.m.

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- An annual report says a law inspired by the beating death of a 13-month-old Milwaukee boy has significantly improved the accountability of those responsible protecting Wisconsin's abused and neglected children.

Wisconsin disclosure practices were ranked among the worst in 2008, when the first report was released by the Children's Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego and the advocacy group First Star. They gave Wisconsin a D.

But the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports Wisconsin is one of the most improved states in the 2012 report. Its grade rose to B minus.

It emerged after the 2008 death of Christopher Thomas his court-appointed caregivers tortured him and his sister despite caseworker visits. The 2010 law requires the state to notify the public when a child is killed or seriously hurt.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.