The state Department of Children and Families, which has acknowledged seriously mishandling the case of a missing 5-year-old Fitchburg boy, is facing fresh allegations of mismanagement from a superintendent of schools who says the agency failed to respond promptly to other cases of neglect and abuse elsewhere in the state.
School staff in Northbridge had to send DCF 13 reports alleging that a second-grader was being sexually abused before the agency removed the student from the home, according to a letter from Nancy R. Spitulnik, superintendent of schools in Northbridge, that became public this week.
Spitulnik said school principals in Northbridge, a community 40 miles west of Boston, have reported that DCF regularly closed serious cases because the parents refused to cooperate, leaving the students “in immediate danger.”
After seeing the heavy hand of the state why would parents want to cooperate?
In one case, DCF refused to accept a report from school staff who suspected that a first-grader was being neglected after the student missed more than 75 days of school, Spitulnik wrote. She said DCF also failed to follow up with a homeless student who was living on his own.
The superintendent said she went public, in a letter to DCF officials that was released by state lawmakers this week, because she said that it was “extremely concerning” to learn in news reports about the missing Fitchburg boy that the Northbridge office has the highest caseloads in the state, according to the union that represents social workers….
DCF has been under intense scrutiny since acknowledging last month that it failed to monitor 5-year-old Jeremiah Oliver of Fitchburg….
The latest allegations sparked outrage from several influential figures in the Legislature….
Thus we will get show hearings as a reaction to the rot and corruption.
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Related: Deval Patrick orders a review of state family agency
Not a very good legacy he is leaving when it comes to the most vulnerable in our state, although he did help establish some Mossad spying cells in the state.
And about that rot and corruption:
"Audit details Worcester agency’s troubles" by Todd Wallack | Globe staff, January 03, 2014
A defunct Worcester social service agency charged more than $143,000 in questionable expenses to the state before it closed, according to a recent report from the state auditor’s office.
The troubled nonprofit, the Henry Lee Willis Community Center Inc., also accumulated about $1 million in debt to the state and other creditors, including $235,569 to the state’s unemployment insurance fund, by the time it shut down.
Related: Globe Xmas Gift: To Your Health
How do they know they didn't get the payments?
Also see: More glitches hit state unemployment system
They still haven't fixed it?
"A 42-year-old Everett man pleaded guilty Friday to stealing nearly $50,000 in unemployment benefits while he was incarcerated, officials said."
The one time it worked was…. arrgh!
The community center, which provided a variety of social service programs in Central Massachusetts and relied primarily on state funding, was finally forced to close its doors last Feb. 15 after four state agencies pulled their contracts because of concerns about the center’s management and continued financial woes.
The financial problems appeared to have been years in the making. The Dec. 19 audit found that the Department of Children and Families flagged the nonprofit’s financial problems as early as 2009.
And yet it continued to operate for four more years?
The agency’s own auditor repeatedly noted that the nonprofit had problems with its credit card documentation in fiscal years 2009 through 2012.
In just three months of spending examined by the office of State Auditor Suzanne Bump, investigators found that more than one-third of the $21,000 in charges it examined did not have any supporting documentation and therefore should not have been reimbursed by the state.
The audit found that the agency also billed the state more than $57,000 to lease an Audi A6 Quattro all-wheel-drive luxury vehicle for its executive director. “It was not fiscally prudent for the center to use its limited funds in this manner, given its poor financial condition,” the report said.
Weren't they supposed to be serving kids?
Yes, dear readers, the rank corruption and rot extends even to the local level.
In addition, the auditor’s office said the agency paid $10,000 to hire a public relations firm in December 2012 after learning it was in danger of losing its state contract, racked up $28,700 in interest and late fees on taxes and other bills because it mismanaged its finances, and failed to justify nearly $40,000 in payments to its for-profit affiliate, Willis Social Enterprise Center Inc., for maintenance services.
The audit also found that the for-profit company had failed to make required corporate filings with the secretary of state’s office since 2008.
Neither Henry Lee’s chairman, Henry Ritter, nor its executive director, Carlton Watson, could be reached for comment. Unlike most state audits, the report does not contain a response from the agency because it closed before the study could be completed.
Still, the audit found that the agency regularly ran deficits over the past decade, partly because of high administrative costs and poor management of the for-profit affiliate, which lost more than $517,000 over its first two years, according to its financial records.
To improve the situation, the nonprofit explored a merger with another unnamed social services agency in May 2012, but the talks fell apart because of Henry Lee’s financial troubles, according to the state report.
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The nonprofit, which was founded in 1991, focused particularly on serving minorities, operating emergency family shelters, distributing food to the poor, and helping people recover from substance abuse.
Sounds good until you consider they were ripping off the place.
Related: nonprofits which provide new ways for corporations and individuals to influence
What, they don't have enough already?
The organization had a $12 million annual budget and boasted that it served approximately 17,000 people a year.
Must have been part of the p.r. campaign.
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Related:
Fitchburg Up First
Fitchburg Follow-Up
Fitchburg Fades From the Front Page
The Problem With Justina Pelletier
She is in custody of the DCF. That's the problem.
Also see: Father of missing Fitchburg boy says he is fit parent
Still haven't found the kid yet, huh?
"Father of missing Fitchburg boy arrested on drug charges" by Wesley Lowery and Michael Levenson | Globe Staff, January 02, 2014
The father of Jeremiah Oliver, the missing 5-year-old Fitchburg boy, vowed to continue fighting for custody of his other two children despite his arrest Monday on drug charges in his Connecticut hometown.
But he's fit.
Police in New Britain, Conn., said they received a tip that Jose Oliver, 41, was dealing drugs, so they set up an undercover sting, said Lieutenant Jeanette Saccente of the New Britain Police Department.
You ain't getting those kids back.
Tip from who?
Oliver agreed to meet with an undercover agent and was arrested Monday afternoon with 30 bags of heroin on a street corner near an elementary school, police said.
Now he is looking at serious jail time.
The arrest came just days after Oliver acknowledged a history of drug use during an interview with the Globe, but insisted he was clean now and should regain custody of his children.
Doesn't he know better than to talk to the Globe?
The disappearance of his son Jeremiah has prompted massive searches in Massachusetts, where the boy had lived with his mother and her boyfriend.
Authorities were alerted to the child’s disappearance Dec. 2, when his 7-year-old sister told counselors at Reingold Elementary School in Fitchburg that she was being abused by her mother’s boyfriend and that she had not seen Jeremiah in weeks.
Authorities are treating Jeremiah’s disappearance as a potential homicide.
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Soon after word of Jeremiah’s disappearance became public, his father entered the public spotlight, helping lead search parties for the boy and vowing to go to court to fight for custody of his other two children.
Oliver did not return calls for comment Thursday, but his brother told the Globe that the father will continue his custody battle despite the arrest.
“Jose is a concerned and loving father who wants a resolution to the search and the finding of Jeremiah,” said Sandrino Oliver, Jose’s brother. “He will still be seeking custody of his daughter and his son.”
Who was trying to put food on the table when he was busted.
Sandrino Oliver declined to discuss the details of his brother’s arrest, but said he believes he will be vindicated when the arrest is discussed at the Jan. 10 custody hearing.
New Britain police said that Oliver was released on bond and has not been arraigned on the charges he faces: possession of narcotics, possession of narcotics with intent to sell, possession of narcotics within 1,500 feet of a school, and criminal attempt of sale of narcotics.
The boy’s disappearance has shaken the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, which has fired three employees — the direct care social worker and two supervisors — for failing to meet their professional responsibility to the Oliver family.
Yeah, the poor, poor, negligent state. That's the self-internalized message from the reporter.
The department declined to comment on Oliver’s arrest or any potential impact it might have on his bid to gain custody of his children.
“Custody is determined by the court,” said Cayenne Isaksen, a DCF spokeswoman.
Lawmakers are planning to hold hearings on the Department of Children and Families’ handling of the Oliver family’s case later this month, although no date has been set, said Representative Kay Khan, a Newton Democrat who is House chairwoman of the Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities.
“It’s a very serious case, and I feel that’s important for us to dig deeper here and find out what is going on,” Khan said Thursday.
Organizers of the many search teams that have hunted for any sign of the missing boy said they will continue to lead searches despite Oliver’s arrest.
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While his criminal record included an arrest for possession of heroin and a charge of assault and battery, Oliver insisted in a recent Globe interview that he was a changed man. Oliver acknowledged his history of drug use, but asked that state officials look beyond his past infractions and return his children to him.
Are you wealthy or Jewish? Then forget it.
“Don’t judge me on my past; people do change,” Oliver insisted in an interview with the Globe last week. “Everybody makes mistakes, man.
“There’s nobody perfect in this world,” he said. “The past is the past, let’s leave it there. I’m a new person. I’m older, I’m wiser.’’
