Governor Announces Series of DCF Reforms

Vowing to “keep kids safe” going forward, Gov. Charlie Baker announced a series of reforms to fix the Department of Children and Families, which has been the target of widespread criticism following high-profile cases of neglect and abuse of Massachusetts children.

“Despite all the reports and studies that have been done over the past decade, there has not been a coordinated, sustained effort to improve DCF,” Gov. Baker said during Monday morning’s press conference. “You can’t have an operation as large as DCF with people operating without a playbook. I was shocked at how long its been since a number of these critical components have been updated.”

Chief among the new reforms is an effort to limit the caseload of social workers to 18-1. Currently, state social workers are handling as many as 27 cases at a time, making it difficult to focus on individual cases and creating an atmosphere in which important details are missed. Baker said the state will increase finding to DCF, which was slashed during the budget cuts of 2009, in order to hire more social workers to lighten the case load that has increased by about 30 percent in the past two years.

Other reforms include:

• Updating DCF’s intake policy, which hasn’t been updated in 10 years. The new policy for reviewing allegations of abuse will include an assessment of parental capability.
• A new supervision policy to include mandated steps on case review to supervise workers for all families. “There is no clarity for social workers in the field to determine when cases should be pushed up” for further review and investigation.
• Stronger review of families where there are multiple abuse of neglect reports.
• The state will reopen the central Massachusetts DCF office closed in 09. One office is currently handling all cases between Worcester and the New York border, which is “too big for one office to handle,” Baker said.
• Streamline the review process for people applying to be foster parents. “Between now and end of the fiscal year, we will extend partnership with social organizations to work down the backlog of applications.”

The governor also plans to hire a new medical director within 10 days to improve the “quality and consistency” of case studies, and create a new policy for sharing data on foster homes among state agencies, streamlining the process of sharing information so cases don’t fall through the cracks.

The reform announcement comes on the heels of the Bella Bond case, which made headlines across the country. The two-year-old girl’s body was found on a Deer Island beach in June. After a long investigation, police arrested Bella’s mother and her boyfriend in connection to the girl’s murder. Michael McCarthy has been charged with murder, and Rachelle Bond has been charged with accessory after the fact for allegedly helping dispose of Bella’s body and cover up the crime.

The Massachusetts Human Service Workers Union is working with Gov. Baker and DCF Director Linda Spears on the reforms, calling the initiative an “unprecedented collaboration between front-line social workers and administration.” Union President Peter MacKinnon said the new policies will ensure front-line case workers have the tools and information they need to more effectively do their jobs.

“Despite our best efforts, the call for real change has largely fallen on deaf ears. The commonwealth has largely pursued knee-jerk reactions and quick fixes. Families were short-changed and children were left at risk,” MacKinnon said. “This will eliminate confusing and contradictory directives. With the governor’s personal pledge, we will finally bring caseloads down to safe, manageable levels.”

Gov. Baker also implored the public to help DCF protect children by not keeping quiet after witnessing abuse.

“One of the troubling elements for us is there are a lot of people who had concerns about what was going on, and for whatever reason didn’t bother to raise the issue to create the opportunity for DCF to go in,” Baker said. “If people are concerned about the situation kids are in, they need to tell us so we can go out and investigate.”