We also would acknowledge the personal involvement of House Speaker Bob DeLeo, who has called for a top-to-bottom review of DCF in its handling of this case and others like it. Speaking forcefully, he added, “not from this point forward”. A report stated the agency failed to protect Loiselle. If it is true that two previous children of Bella’s mother had been taken away from her, how could it possibly be expected that she would be capable of taking care of a third child?
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The two-year-old girl’s body was found on a Deer Island beach in June.
BOSTON (AP) – With the identification of “Baby Doe” as 2-year-old Bella Bond, Gov. Charlie Baker finds himself again thrust into the sad – and sadly familiar – position of responding to the death or mistreatment of a child at one point under the supervision of the state. 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.
“For years, social workers and investigators have called for meaningful reform and investment at DCF, but we’ve only seen attempts at quick fixes”, MacKinnon said in a statement. “This is an unprecedented collaboration between frontline child protection workers and agency administrators. Working together, we will succeed in doing what has been necessary for so long-making deep, systemic changes”.
Baker made ongoing problems at DCF a core issue during his campaign to become governor a year ago, but he has since faced some of the same questions as his predecessors.
The steps are aimed at reducing caseloads, retaining social workers and updating policies for investigating cases, the governor’s office said. “Reinstating this position will allow licensed social workers to focus more on case management and the children under their supervision”. 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. Through negotiations with SEIU Local 509 leadership already underway, the policy will be updated by November. 17.
As part of the new in-take policy, which Baker said has not been updated in 12 years, the Department of Children and Families will standardize its risk assessment procedures, conduct criminal records checks in all cases, review a family’s entire history with DCF, including current and prior contacts, review the frequency and type of emergency responses to the home and assess parental capacity.
This report is the “blueprint” for change within the agency, according to Baker’s office, and includes recommendations like background checks for foster homes, photo-documentation for all cases, and new guidance for home visits.
Chief among the new reforms is an effort to limit the caseload of social workers to 18-1. “Despite all of the reports and studies that have been done over the past decade concerning shortcomings at DCF, there has not been a coordinated, sustained effort to bake improvements and reforms into the daily operations of the department”.
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The department will also seek to reduce the backlog of foster home applicants.
