Rep. Donato: Protection of Children is a Priority

– Representative Paul J. Donato, 35th Middlesex District (Medford and Malden)

The protection of children who are in the care of the state has been a priority of mine throughout my tenure in the state legislature. Perhaps this concern is rooted in my own experience as a ward of the state during a period of my childhood. I have worked closely with my colleagues as well as with leadership to support issues and concerns on this topic. The Speaker appointed me to the Special Committee on Child Care and Neglect. The Committee reported its findings and recommendation to the Governor and I am pleased that Governor Baker recently announced major changes to DCF policies and practices focused on ensuring the safety of children in the Commonwealth’s child welfare system.

The new Intake Policy substantially updates and clarifies protocols for DCF’s screening and investigation of reports of abuse or neglect. The changes also include a first ever Supervision Policy designed to support DCF front line workers in decision-making and to identify circumstances where cases need to be elevated for collaborative higher-level review. Statewide implementation of the policy will begin on February 1st.

The Protective Intake Policy creates a comprehensive set of procedures to guide the department’s review and investigation of reports of abuse or neglect. It has been 30 years since the intake policy was initially written. Details of the new policy include:

Screening:

– Requires non-emergency reports of abuse and neglect to be reviewed and screened in or out in one business day—reduced from three days previously. Emergency reports continue to require an immediate screening decision and an investigatory response within 2 hours

– Introduces screening teams comprised of social workers, supervisors, and managers in all 29 area offices charged with reviewing new reports of abuse or neglect in open cases, reports of three or more separate incidents in the past 12 months, and other reports indicating reasons for elevated concern

– Mandates review of all information about the child and caregiver’s prior DCF involvement and review of any comparable information available from child welfare agencies in other states, including cases in which a parent has previously lost custody of a child

– Requires CORI (Criminal Offender Record Information), SORI (Sexual Offender Record Information), and national criminal history database checks of parents/caregivers and all household members over 15 years old

– Requires requests from law enforcement for information on 911 calls and police responses to the residence of any child or family involved in a report of abuse or neglect

Investigative Response:

– Creates a single child protection response to all screened in reports that eliminates the practice of tiered or “differential response” at screening. All reports that are screened in will now be assigned for a response by an Investigation Trained Response Worker. The revised policy places decision-making regarding the appropriate level of department intervention after the response — the point at which the Department has interviewed the child and caregiver involved and substantially investigated the report of abuse or neglect

The Supervisor Policy is the first in DCF’s history. It strengthens the Department’s efforts to support social workers in their efforts to keep children safe by defining the required elements of supervision and, identifying practice areas that require special attention such as understanding parental history or present risk factors such as substance use, mental health challenges or domestic violence.