One Death is One Too Msny... Now There's Four

One death of a child is one too many under any circumstances. Since April 11, 2014, there have been four children that have died while being monitored by the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families.

The first death was that of Jeremiah Oliver of Framingham, Massachusetts. He was only 5 years old. Jeremiah's body was found off of highway interstate 190 near Worcester, Massachusetts. He was declared the victim of a homicide. Jeremiah's social worker had failed to visit the allegedly abusive home for seven months as News Center Channel 5 reported in their "Autopsy Confirms Jeremiah Oliver's Body Found" segment on Apr 20, 2014.

The second deceased child was Bailey Irish of Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Bailey was sixteen days old when her parents reported that she had stopped breathing. DCF social workers had missed multiple visits concerning this newborn, according to Boston Globe "Infant Dies; Family Had Missed DCF Visit" by Sampson and Adams published on April 27, 2014.

The third child was Aliana Levigne of Grafton, Massachusetts. Aliana was four weeks old. Her death was related to a DCF employee “misplacing an important fax” from the Grafton Police Department. This fax from the police was a warning to the DCF of "possible harm" to the infant, the Boston Globe reports in "Warning Missed Before Grafton Baby's Death" by Anderson and Wen on April 26, 2014.

The fourth deceased child was unidentified. This two-week-old child from Weymouth, Massachusetts, stopped breathing in the family's hotel room, states the Boston Globe in "Reports: Another Child Under DCF Watch Dies" by Robert Burgess, May 10, 2014.  

The Boston Herald’s Todd Wallack reported on February 10, 2014 in "Mass. ranks low in children's welfare," that Massachusetts is ranked forty-fifth out of the fifty states in the category titled "children not being mistreated again within six months." Massachusetts was also one of the five states that failed to submit data regarding the state's response time to abuse reports.

Boston Federal Court Judge William G. Young states, the "DCF has failed not only to comport with national standards and state and federal requirements, but also to comply with its own internal policies.”

This year the Department of Children and Families had requested a budget increase and was given a five percent increase of 32.6 million dollars as reported by the Boston Globe in "Patrick's $36.4 B Budget Boosts DCF Funding" by Levenson and O'Sullivan on January 23, 2014. This budget increase is intended to help reduce the average case load per social worker by hiring 150 additional social workers and supervisors. Boston Herald statistics indicate that one-third of the social workers who are currently employed by the DCF are not licensed.

The children and families of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts would benefit from an impartial review of the entire workings of the DCF. The review should be done by an independent panel with no connections to the Department.

 KPS