The New England Center for Investigative Reporting (NECIR) recently collaborated with The Boston Globe on a major investigation into child abuse and neglect deaths in Massachusetts. After a two year, $4,500 struggle to obtain public records from the Department of Children and Families (DCF), NECIR published their findings in a project that details the rapid increase in child fatalities in the state through the lens of the 110 children who died of abuse or neglect between 2009 and 2013. The exhaustive report reveals:
Thirty-eight children who died between 2009 and 2013 had received services from state social workers, and 26 of those were under state supervision at the time of their deaths. Other deceased children undoubtedly had contact with DCF, either to receive voluntary services or because their family was the subject of a complaint that social workers dismissed. But DCF declined to release information about complaints that had been rejected.
A six-year-old DCF intake system for maltreatment complaints – opposed by the union that represents social workers – divides children into high-risk and lower-risk categories, with less risky cases assigned to workers with less required training. Between 2009 and 2013, 10 children on the lower-risk track died, including 7 in 2013, records show, raising questions about whether the system has enough safeguards to protect children.
The DCF screening system does not require social workers to do criminal background checks of a child’s caretakers when analyzing neglect and abuse complaints – an oversight that some child advocates say leaves a huge gap in assessing risk.
The state keeps shoddy data on child deaths and its child fatality review system is crippled by lack of funds and resources. The New England Center found 10 children who were not included in state data even though their deaths were ruled to be homicide and, in most cases, parents or other caretakers were implicated.
In addition to the written investigation, NECIR released an interactive infographic that tells the story of the short lives and sudden deaths of each of the 110 children.
The post Out of the Shadows: A Report on Child Deaths in Massachusetts appeared first on The Chronicle of Social Change.