From the official Mass.gov DCF website. 2014.
Mission Statement
"The Department of Children and Families is charged with protecting children from abuse and neglect and strengthening families. There are currently more than 7,000 children in foster care across Massachusetts and more than 40,000 children in all served by the Department."
I am not sure if this is a typographical error on the part of lagging maintenance of a website or if Commissioner Roche just does not know just how many children are under Massachusetts DCF care. In her testimony published on Jan 23rd, 2014, she opens up with this statement.
" Good morning. My name is Olga Roche, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families. I want to thank Chairs Linsky and Khan, and members of the committees, for inviting me to discuss our agency’s work in the protection of over 100,000 children and youth we serve each year while strengthening families across the Commonwealth."
Perhaps she meant that 100,000 are served yearly and that the website simply states that only 40,000 are under some form of permanent placement, or supervision of the agency. Arguing the discrepancy is academic and purposeless even on a statistical level. No, what these numbers mean is that 100,000 children fall under the watchful eye of a growing more powerful agency and roughly 40,000 have currently ended up ensnared.
Let us extrapolate those numbers. If 100,000 are investigated each year that would mean (over ten years) 1 million are data based, recorded and put into a file in a vast system. DCF has been around a long time. Given population growth, economic woe, the purported ever constant rise in drug and alcohol abuse, the sanctuary status of illegals, and general youth delinquency it is quite possible that practically every family in Massachusetts alone has been, is and can expect to be visited by DCF for any number of reasons at some point in time in their lives. As I have stated before the bar is lowered all the time to classify 'at risk' children. It is inevitable these numbers casually bantered about will rise.
Let's look at another statistic and do some extrapolating here as well.
Priority Population
DCF supports children ages 0 - 18 and 18 - 21 previously involved with DCF. 85% of all children receiving DCF services remain in their home.
If 100,000 children are investigated each year, then, according to this from the website that would mean over 15,000 a year end up in DCF care instead of remaining in the home. Again, given the commonly known rise of all statistical numbers how did DCF come up with the 2014 number of 40,000?
In an open letter published just prior to the scandal that unfolded following the death of Jermiah Oliver and the revelation that DCF routinely 'loses' children in their care Commissioner Olga Roche wrote to her colleagues.
"Governor Patrick’s $9.2 million budget investment and additional supplemental budget funding will allow the Department to hire more than 175 additional staff to move towards our 15 to 1 caseload goals."
In addition to the 175 new staff members Roche goes on to talk about promotions of other staff members and the fielding of "hundreds of applications and resume's". It is important to know that this 9.2 million is what Democrats like to call an 'investment'. What that really means is that the current budget has only increased by 9.2 million.
Great! The growth of government expands ever thus!
The Mission Statement from the official site in 2023.
The Department of Children and Families (DCF) works in partnership with families and communities to keep children safe from abuse and neglect. In most cases, DCF is able to provide supports and services to keep children safe with parents or family members. When necessary, DCF provides foster care or finds new permanent families for children through kinship, guardianship or adoption.
In addition, DCF now has expanded to be involved in children's lives well into adulthood.
"The Department of Children and Families (DCF) strives to protect children from abuse and neglect and supports young adults, age 18-22, who are transitioning from DCF custody to independent living."
In September of 2023 Staverne Miller became the new "acting" Commissioner and was appointed under the Healey Administration. She replaced Linda Spears who went on to serve as CEO on a national level with the Child Welfare League of America. Staverne has an impressive resume' and was co-chair of the Racial Equity Workgroup.
She is a DEI Warrior.
According to the link above there are currently 4200 social workers employed by the taxpayers in Massachusetts. Massachusetts has 351 cities and towns. This means there are roughly 12 workers for every town. Some towns barely have 12 cops!
But the increase of workers since Gov. Patrick's 9.2 million influx and a current state budget of 1.4 billion hasn't slowed the level of incompetence among the staff or how they handle placement of children.
Following the death of Cassidy Baracka in Lowell the Baker Administration threw MORE money at the problem. The DCF budget increased another 42%, a 21% hiring increase and "..procedures put in place to guide the “review and investigation of reports of abuse or neglect.”
This does not bring back a dead child.
Then there are the never-ending stories such as this one.
"DCF Commissioner Linda Spears acknowledged that DCF staffers have been investigated for abuse or neglect of children in their personal lives at a hearing with lawmakers on Tuesday, however, she could not immediately give details on exactly how many of her workers have come under investigation in the past year."
Linda Spears? Didn't she just get a cushy CEO job with a national child welfare organization?
So, under the watchful eye of Olga Roche children routinely died, were murdered and lost. Under the watchful eye of Linda Spears children died and the staff at DCF were known to abuse their own children. In fact, there is an entire outside agency tasked to handle these particular cases.
"A DCF spokeswoman said the agency contracts with both Solutions for Living and the Center for Human Development to handle potential conflict of interest cases and investigations. Solutions for Living, Inc. collected more than $700,000 from the state last year, while Massachusetts taxpayers doled out more than $57 million to the Center for Human Development in fiscal 2017. The new revelations come after Investigative Reporter Eric Rasmussen went to the State House to question DCF’s top boss about why the agency’s social workers are going years — even decades — without undergoing criminal background checks."
I almost can't wait to see what Staverne Miller has in store for the children and families of Massachusetts!
But Massachusetts isn't alone in failing to follow up, report, track and CORI check their own staff. Let us never forget the work of Nancy Shaefer in Georgia and how she was mysteriously found dead alongside her husband just before filing a state audit in 2008.
Counselors, doctors, lawyers, advocate groups, police, fire, teachers, soccer coaches, school bus drivers, city bus drivers and government staff workers are now 'mandated reporters'. They have been required by law to report 'suspected' child abuse or child neglect. This ramps up the potential for the number of families to be trapped within the system simply because someone else 'suspects' something.
And, just what constitutes suspicion? There was a time when mere suspicion would be laughed out of the police station let alone the court. In the proper execution of detective work suspicion simply spurs on the investigation until sufficient evidence is obtained and then official charges are filed. In the case of suspected child abuse/neglect all it takes is a simple anonymous tip and the charges are leveled.
Only afterwards does the investigation begin.
According to the Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, suspicion is defined as; " Act or fact of suspecting: Imagination or apprehension of something, especially of something wrong or hurtful without proof or on slight evidence."
The entire act of suspicion is subjective and entirely made up in one's head. Albeit, possibly based on a presumption of witness or experience but none the less, groundless and entirely circumspect. Facts must always rule in any act of accusation, prosecution or the forbearance thereof.
Unless you are DCF.
Wikipedia states that child abuse is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_abuse
" Child abuse is the physical, sexual or emotional maltreatment or neglect of a child or children.[1] In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department for Children And Families (DCF) define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or other caregiver that results in harm, potential for harm, or threat of harm to a child.[2] Child abuse can occur in a child's home, or in the organizations, schools or communities the child interacts with. There are four major categories of child abuse: neglect, physical abuse, psychological or emotional abuse, and sexual abuse....."
Lets look at Connecticut. According to their official (dot-gov) website: http://www.ct.gov/dcf/cwp/view.asp?a=3483&Q=499860#AppendixA
" ... has injuries at variance with the history given of them...
Evidence of physical abuse
includes:
fractures, dislocations, sprains, strains, displacements, hematomas, etc.- death
- misuse of medical treatments or therapies
- malnutrition related to acts of commission or omission by an established caregiver resulting in a child’s malnourished state that can be supported by professional medical opinion
- deprivation of necessities acts of commission or omission by an established caregiver resulting in physical harm to child.
- cruel punishment.
In fact.
We could apply anything and everything that goes with the worry and fear, hope, trepidation, daring of parenthood.
Then there are those times when you truly need help. The questions in the emergency room are specifically designed to catch you at your weakest. The parent who is traumatized by the event before them concerning their child.
So, you become suspect. It is based on the slimmest of evidence, slimmest of witness' and (worst yet) brought into court and on docket for examination. Hell? Did not Roche say that 85% of children stay in the home? You'll be fine.
You will luck out. Spend money, meet with DSS, they already know the outcome. Even your court appointment lawyer knows.
After all.
"It is the system we live in and we must work within it". Corrinne Huoy, of www.CasaWorcesterCounty.org
.... And That Is The Diatribe....
No comments:
Post a Comment