I agree it is not going to fix anything because the problems are institutional and bureaucratic and the neglect and wealthy inequality encouraged by government policies is doing nothing but exacerbating the problem.
"Patrick’s office seeks potential child welfare chief successor; Move comes amid uproar over deaths; speaker calls for commissioner’s resignation" by Michael Levenson and Patricia Wen | Globe staff April 28, 2014
Governor Deval Patrick’s office began seeking potential replacements Monday for the state’s child welfare commissioner, say two people with direct knowledge of the effort, a sign the governor may be heeding calls for the resignation of Olga I. Roche after months of defending her....
The behind-the-scenes search comes after the recent death of two infants and the earlier disappearance of a 4-year-old boy whose body was found April 18. During the escalating controversy, Patrick had supported Roche but abruptly shifted course on Monday, saying that he had lost faith in the Department of Children and Families.
Roche, he said, needs to answer for the agency’s missteps, including how DCF workers misplaced a fax sent to them April 3 by the Grafton Police Department warning of possible harm to a 1-month-old. The fax was not discovered until April 9. Two days later, the newborn died.
Articles regarding that to be found further below in this post.
On Saturday, a Fitchburg newborn died after her family missed a scheduled home visit from DCF.
See: Infant dies; family had missed DCF visit
It was rescheduled.
Those deaths followed the discovery earlier this month of the body of Jeremiah Oliver, a Fitchburg 4-year-old who was under DCF monitoring but was not seen by his social worker since last April, despite requirements of monthly visits.
Related: State Finds Missing Fitchburg Boy
Also see: Jeremiah Oliver’s mother unable to aid defense, lawyer says
Sorry I'm abandoning the story, folks.
“I don’t have confidence at this point in the agency,” Patrick told reporters several hours before he met privately with Roche. “And I’m very worried about the agency.”
He also declined to voice any support for Roche specifically. “I’ve posed some questions,” the governor said, when pressed to say if he had confidence in the commissioner. “They have not been answered adequately. When they are, I will come back to you.”
Still, he said, he did not want to fire Roche simply to appease critics.
“It’ll take the view that it actually does something, other than throwing another scalp to the public,” Patrick said. “We’ve got to solve problems, not just paper them over, not just make a dramatic gesture.”
You have had eight years, and this is the shape the DCF is being left?
The governor spoke minutes after House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo became the latest and highest-ranking lawmaker to call for Roche to resign, citing the two infants who died this month and the discovery of Jeremiah’s body by the side of a highway in Sterling.
See: DeLeo calls on DCF Commissioner Olga Roche to resign
“Quite frankly, I’m angered, I’m very much angered to see this continuing to happen,” DeLeo said at the State House, his voice rising. “It shows to me complete mismanagement on behalf of DCF. We have to take strong action. We can’t wait until the end of the year. We can’t wait for a new governor.”
We must throw a scalp to the public after these latest deaths of kids in our collective care.
DeLeo was joined hours later by Senate President Therese Murray and then by Attorney General Martha Coakley, who said they, too, believe that DCF needs a new leader.
“We are experiencing a serious crisis regarding the safety of our children, and we need real leadership now,” Murray said in a statement.
Coakley, who is running for governor, issued her own statement, saying “the time has come for Commissioner Roche to step down.”
When confronted in the past with similar calls for Roche to resign, Patrick has dismissed them, arguing that, as a 30-year veteran of the state social services system, she is well positioned to lead DCF out of scandal.
As recently as Friday, he defended DCF, saying the agency is doing “an impossibly difficult job,” despite being second-guessed by critics.
(All you can do is shake your head at the rote reaction regarding problems or anything else. Government can't admit s***! And now, more kids are dead!)
Asked for Roche’s response to the new concerns voiced Monday, DCF officials issued a statement from Jesse Mermell, a Patrick spokeswoman.
“As the governor said earlier today, it is intolerable and upsetting that the lives of children are being lost,” Mermell’s statement said. “The governor is reviewing the information provided to him in that conversation in order to assess the appropriate next steps for the department and the families it serves.”
You forgot outrageous.
Child welfare advocates said it would not be easy to recruit a new commissioner to take over DCF in the midst of so much turmoil.
Who would want the job, other than the u$ual rea$ons?
The agency is facing several investigations by legislative committees and an outside review by the Child Welfare League of America. The social workers’ union has been picketing outside DCF offices to denounce what it describes as a worsening caseload crisis at the agency. In addition, an interim commissioner would presumably serve for only eight months, until Patrick’s term ends.
“We are concerned about who could be identified that has the range of experience at all levels of DCF and experience in state administration to come in and do a better job,” said Maria Z. Mossaides, chairwoman of the Children’s League of Massachusetts and executive director of Cambridge Family and Children’s Service, a private agency that has contracts with DCF. “He needs to make a decision about whether there’s going to be a great advantage to having the commissioner stay, versus bringing in a whole new team of people at this 11th hour.”
DCF is not the only agency under scrutiny for mishandling suspected cases of child abuse. In Grafton Monday, Police Chief Normand A. Crepeau Jr. defended an officer’s decision to fax a report to DCF warning of possible abuse of 1-month-old Aliana Lavigne, but acknowledged that his officer should have followed up with a phone call to the child protection agency.
Crepeau also said he was frustrated by comments from DCF officials who said that his department failed to follow proper procedure in the case, which is under investigation by Worcester County prosecutors.
“Police did their job,” the chief said.
Still, Crepeau acknowledged that his officer should have notified DCF by phone and said the lapse will be reviewed.
But he said the faxed report, known as a 51A, should have been sufficient for DCF to react.
“They had the 51A,” he said, “or they should have.”
Patrick faulted the police for not following up with a phone call, but said that was no excuse for DCF workers losing track of the fax.
“There’s a lot of good work, as I’ve said over and over again, being done by good people over at DCF,” Patrick said. “But we can’t keep having these kinds of losses.”
Well, seeing as they are miracle workers over there (his hyperbole, not mine) then they should be able to resurrect the dead kids, right?
I hope the bitterness isn't tarnishing his increasingly tainted legacy because that is what he is really worried about. Doesn't look good if you leave the next guy a real mess.
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So who did he find to take over?
"Veteran manager Erin Deveney takes over as child welfare chief; Roche resigns under fire" by Michael Levenson and Patricia Wen | Globe staff April 29, 2014
Governor Deval Patrick appointed a longtime state transportation official Tuesday to replace the commissioner of the state Department of Children and Families, which has been in turmoil following the recent deaths of three children.
I guess he is moving on in more ways than one!
Erin Deveney, a lawyer who has spent most of the last decade at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, will take over DCF following the resignation Tuesday of Olga I. Roche, who had been facing calls to step down from the House speaker, the Senate president, and the attorney general.
Given their track record, that can only mean it is going to take DCF even longer to do things!
Deveney, 41, has no experience in child welfare issues, but developed a reputation as a hard-working manager who helped modernize the Registry’s computer system, allowing drivers to renew licenses and registrations online.
Isn't that the same one that was riddled with problems and got Deloitte fired after $54 million was paid?
She said she was humbled by the challenge she faces as interim commissioner. Deveney came to DCF less than a month ago to fill a newly created position, deputy commissioner of operations.
“In the brief time I’ve been at DCF, I’ve learned to appreciate the magnitude and complexity of the work that is done in serving these children and families on a daily basis,” she said, reading from a prepared statement. “In the period of transition that will follow at DCF, I will ensure the agency’s top priority continues to be ensuring and protecting the children of the Commonwealth. We must not waver in that obligation.”
The agency is facing its own problems with technology, but also more basic questions about its competence following a case in which staff failed to perform required monthly visits to a child under its watch, and a case in which the agency misplaced a faxed report of possible harm to an infant. DCF, which is responsible for the protection of 36,000 children, has also been hampered by low morale, crushing caseloads, and a loss of public confidence.
“It is a very, very high-risk move changing out leadership in this circumstance,” Patrick said at a press conference with Deveney.
Especially with some transportation bureaucrat with no experience!
He indicated he was making the decision reluctantly, after months of defending Roche against mounting criticism. Patrick had appointed Roche interim DCF commissioner in April 2013 and permanent commissioner in October. She made $138,000 a year.
That is not in the top 1%.
“With some 33 years of experience in social services, Commissioner Roche has the expertise to lead this agency,” the governor said. “But it is clear . . . that she can no longer command the trust of the public or the confidence of her line staff.”
Patrick said he would look for a permanent commissioner, which could be Deveney if she proves effective in helping to stabilize DCF. Roche, who did not release any statement Tuesday, is expected to remain at the department for several weeks, helping with the transition.
So it wasn't really a real resignation, right?
Child welfare specialists said it would be very difficult to find a seasoned professional to take the role of permanent commissioner, since Patrick’s term ends in January and the next governor is expected to name his or her own agency heads.
“It’s an eight-month job at best,” said Randall Whittle, a retired longtime administrator for the Brockton-based regional office of DCF. “Who would want to run the agency?”
Unemployed people?
DCF has been under intense criticism since acknowledging in December that it had lost track of a Fitchburg preschooler who was under DCF watch but had not been visited since April 2013. His body was found April 18 by the side of a highway in Sterling.
On Saturday, the agency acknowledged it misplaced a fax sent April 3 from the Grafton police warning of possible harm to a 1-month-old infant. The fax was not discovered until April 9. Two days later, the infant died. Also Saturday, a Fitchburg newborn died after her family missed a scheduled visit from DCF.
Into this tumultuous situation comes Deveney, a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross and Suffolk Law School who worked at the Registry from 2000 to 2005, and then again from 2009 until last month, most recently serving as chief of staff.
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Secretary of Transportation Richard A. Davey said one of Deveney’s chief functions at the Registry was helping to modernize computer systems to assist drivers with online registrations and other services.
And NO MENTION of the PROBLEMS!
******************
Even with her managerial skills, some longtime child advocates say, she faces a major challenge to learn the regulations and laws related to child-protection systems, as well as gaining the trust of social workers and clinicians who realize she has little background in protecting abused and neglected children.
That is the problem with leadership in this state and country: they think everything is a managerial and public relations problem, not a structural one.
Of course, dismantling the structure would necessitate putting themselves and the interests they front for behind the general welfare, and that is not happening in corporately-owned and governed AmeriKa.
On Tuesday, the Children’s League of Massachusetts sent a letter to the governor urging him to appoint a permanent commissioner with an advanced degree in social work and at least 10 years’ experience in senior leadership at a public child welfare or private nonprofit agency.
He appointed a career bureaucrat instead.
“I personally do not know this interim commissioner because she has no background in human services,” said Erin G. Bradley, the league’s executive director. “So I think that’s going to be interesting to see how this all plays out and how she relates to the human services sector.”
I sure hope no more kids are found missing or dead in the next eight months or so.
Gail Garinger, head of the Office of the Child Advocate, an independent office charged with overseeing state agencies that work with children, said she was saddened to see Roche leave because she was a “clinician at heart” and wanted the best for the children.
Now that Roche is gone, Garinger said, she believes the new interim commissioner must work closely with the management team to “stabilize the agency” that has been rocked with so much tragedy and criticism....
Maureen Flatley, a consultant in child welfare issues and a board member of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, said she was disappointed that Roche resigned but felt there was no other option “when you get to the point where everybody is storming the castle with pitchforks.”
Related: Activists plead for legislators to create jobs, not prisons
“I understand it, and I certainly don’t blame the governor for the decision,” Flatley said. “But the political reality here is it can’t be about one person. I can’t emphasize that enough. At some point, we all have to stop personalizing this and pointing fingers.”
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Related:
Lost fax a symbol of DCF’s need to revamp procedures
Roche’s resignation opens way to revamp child welfare agency
At least someone is optimistic about the status quo system, 'eh?
"Police fax on Grafton infant was lost; DCF says crucial data misplaced" by Travis Andersen and Patricia Wen | Globe Staff April 28, 2014
A Department of Children and Families official said this weekend that a fax warning of possible harm to a Grafton infant was missed by state officials for six days not because the department left the fax machine unattended, but because the report was accidentally misplaced.
Initial reports last week suggested that the DCF office had missed the April 3 fax from Grafton police because the person who usually checks the DCF fax machine was off, and no one had been assigned to take over that duty.
That is so lame.
But in a followup this weekend, the agency said that a designated supervisor completed assigned checks of incoming faxes during the week police sent the April 3 report, known as a 51A, on Aliana Lavigne. The fax from police concerning the infant was temporarily misplaced, the agency said, and added it is investigating why this happened and that the misplacement was an “unacceptable error.”
The fax was discovered April 9, two days before Aliana died. Initial reports on how it was missed were based on reports from DCF staff who told the Globe about the missed faxes.
The month-old newborn who was found dead in a Grafton apartment April 11. She lived in the unit with her mother, Andrea Lavigne.
A new DCF memo indicates the agency is working to improve its system for reviewing incoming alerts on potential dangers to children within its care....
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"Warning missed before Grafton baby’s death" by Patricia Wen and Travis Andersen | Globe staff April 26, 2014
GRAFTON — State social workers overlooked for six days a police officer’s faxed complaint about potential danger to a Grafton newborn, and when a social worker finally investigated, she learned that the baby had died, say three people familiar with the case.
A Grafton police officer raised concerns to the Department of Children and Families April 3 about the safety of the daughter of Andrea Lavigne, who had lost custody of one child and had a history of mental health issues and psychotropic drug use, said an investigator with knowledge of the case.
But the supervisor in charge of monitoring faxed reports was off that week, and nobody was asked to perform those duties, said the people familiar with the case.
Four-week-old Aliana Lavigne died April 11 just as the state investigation began. Though the cause of death has not yet been determined, the mother, in an interview with WCVB-TV news earlier this week, said that the baby inexplicably stopped breathing while they slept together and that when emergency personnel arrived, her daughter was dead.
Officials at DCF, already under intense criticism for failing to protect a Fitchburg toddler who was found dead near a highway last week, have maintained that the department did nothing wrong in its handling of the Lavigne case.
In Lowell Friday, Governor Deval Patrick defended DCF’s role, saying the department was in “the middle of investigating” the Lavigne case when the death occurred. He said DCF has an “impossibly difficult job” with so much second-guessing of what they do.
The details of Aliana Lavigne’s case unfolded as state lawmakers said they hoped to add millions to the department’s budget to alleviate heavy caseloads faced by social services workers.
After these tragedies have occurred, yeah. Before all this they were doling it out on debt interest payments to the tune of tens of millions of dollars a month as well as to well-connected corporate interests and concerns while cutting budgets for kids and families.
But hey, Boston has a lovely elite section and that is really all that is important. If richers are happy all is right with the world.
*******************
The Globe’s attempts to reach the mother Friday at her Grafton apartment were unsuccessful. A man who answered Lavigne’s door said she had retained a lawyer and would not be speaking to the press.
In the mother’s interview with WCVB, she said her child suffered from baby colic and was prone to fits of crying. She said that she herself was on “certain medications through the pregnancy” that the baby was withdrawing from. The mother told the television station that she has seizures and was on Klonopin, a drug often used to treat anxiety, while pregnant.
The newborn’s death comes after the agency has been under scrutiny for a number of other cases, including the death of Jeremiah Oliver, a 5-year-old whose body was found at the side of a highway in Sterling last week....
DCF staff members have complained that crushing caseloads, among other things, have hampered their ability to do their job overseeing some 34,000 children in their caseloads.
Thirty-six thousand, thirty-four thousand, what's the difference? They just lose (or gain) 2,000 kids like that?
In response, state Representative David P. Linsky, the Natick Democrat who chairs the House Committee on Post Audit and Oversight, said the House budget calls for funding that would drastically reduce the ratio of families to assigned social workers and allow more extensive background checks of foster families, among other steps.
Isn't it a shame that government is so reactive here? Only after tragedy strikes do they do something, while in the meantime advancing the agenda that serves only themselves and the interests that control them.
He said the House Budget would tie the DCF reforms to a $32.6 million increase in state funding and insist on more frequent reports to the Legislature.
“We really did put in a lot more oversight for DCF than I’ve ever seen us do for any other state agency,” Linsky said.
DCF officials say the department is continuing its investigation of the death of Aliana. A longtime DCF staff member said that, though police should have also called DCF in the baby’s case, all staff members recognize that the fax machine is the source of many abuse and neglect reports.
“I can’t fathom an excuse,” the staff member said. “It was an error. How can you miss something like this for multiple days?”
This staff member said the supervisors clearly feel some responsibility, noting that all workers in the Worcester office of DCF, which oversaw the Lavigne case, received an e-mail this week emphasizing the critical importance of checking reports on fax machines, at least hourly.
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NEXT DAY UPDATES:
Report alleges abuse, neglect of Yarmouth toddler who died
Mother says baby not abused
DCF an agency of awful realities
Sorry I'm abandoning you kids.
