The Baker-Polito Administration has failed for years to fix systemic operational issues at its Department of Children and Families (DCF), which serves children who have experienced abuse or neglect. Many of the problems cited by the most recent investigation into a child’s death were the same as those in reports at the start of the Baker-Polito administration in 2015.
Massachusetts continues to be very slow in getting DCF involved children into a permanent home, either through reunification with parents or adoption. Children are spending a median of 37 months between home removal and adoption, well beyond the state and federal standard of 15 months. This introduces additional trauma and disruption into the already difficult lives of these children.
Racial disparities persist throughout the system, including in removing children from their homes where 31.9% of those removed are Latinx, while 19.0% of the population is Latinx, and 14.3% of those removed are Black, while 8.8% of the population is Black.
DCF was found to have discriminated against parents with disabilities and months later still had no policies, standard practices, or training curriculum on people with disabilities.
It has recently been accused of civil rights violations for failing to provide first-language services and documents for non-English speakers.
The systemic failures at DCF have led to preventable tragedies, including deaths. The Baker-Polito administration, which claims to excel at management, needs to take serious action to improve the efficacy and capacity of the DCF; lip service to reform and remorse after tragedies occur are not sufficient.
Sources: (The Editorial Board, “Lessons from the Almond case–and Beyond,” The Boston Globe, 5/8/21; Stout, M., “DCF to visit every child it supervises in person by month’s end, state officials tell lawmakers,” The Boston Globe, 5/4/21; Mustafa, S., Race-blind decision-making could reduce racial disparities in child welfare system,” Commonwealth Magazine, 4/5/21)