Legislative committee urges greater oversight, accountability of DHS

Legislators want to keep a closer eye on the Department of Human Services, according to a draft report issued last week by the Health and Human Services Committee.

Oversight and accountability are the bywords of the report that came after a nine-month investigation of the child welfare services system.

The Health and Human Services Committee’s study is one of two that have been going on during the past few months. The Committee to Review the Child Protective System, established by the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee, also studied DHS over the past few months. The group recently issued recommendations regarding the court procedures used by DHS.

Both investigations were spurred by the death of 5-year-old Logan Marr of Chelsea, who allegedly was suffocated by her foster mother. The case has become a symbol of the problems DHS has guaranteeing the safety of its charges.

The Health and Human Services Committee determined that DHS should amass data and provide regular updates to members on how it’s doing placing children with relatives, ensuring that children are in touch with their biological families and complying with federal and state laws, including the Indian Child Welfare Act.

The department also should issue reports on the number of parental rights terminations in which the family didn’t receive support services such as substance abuse counseling, the committee said.

Legislators should have more access to child welfare information, according to members. They hope to glean advice from the Attorney General’s Office about confidentiality requirements, they said in their report.

During its investigation, the committee heard from biological and foster parents, caseworkers, attorneys, national and local children’s advocates, DHS officials, and young people in foster care.

Based on its report, the committee may decide to recommend bills during the legislative session that begins in January.

Meanwhile, DHS Deputy Commissioner Peter Walsh called the report “a thorough and comprehensive review.”

“We look forward to working with the committee to implement many of the recommendations,” said Walsh, noting that the department itself had pinpointed some changes that needed to be made.

But some recommendations need to be examined more closely, Walsh said. And some will take additional resources, he pointed out.

“Better data collection certainly is something we can do,” he said. “We don’t have a problem with the majority of areas in here as long as the focus is on the fact that DHS has to have as its primary goal the safety of the child.”

The committee also recommended that families be able to obtain services from any qualified provider instead of having to choose from DHS’ prescribed list.

The department should present a proposal to improve caseworkers’ training, morale, working conditions and efficiency, according to the committee.

Adopting clear standards to distinguish abuse and neglect from poverty and developing mechanisms to ensure that policy and practice are implemented consistently across the state also were considered priorities by the committee.

Legislators have said that even before the Logan Marr tragedy, they had received numerous complaints about the system.

DHS and the departments of corrections, mental health and substance abuse should communicate more so that services to children and families would be better coordinated, according to the newly released report.

The department should make it clear to staff that threats of retaliation against families won’t be tolerated, the committee said. Parents should be told to report such incidents..

DHS should provide increased services to families after reunification and expand the program that provides immediate physical and psychological screening of all children entering DHS care, according to the report.

Meanwhile, Walsh said he was disappointed that the spotlight hasn’t been on determining why so many children are abused and neglected.

“Families have to become stronger … they have to do a better job of taking care of their own children. Until we start focusing on those issues, the numbers probably are going to grow,” he said.

“I’d love to see a legislative committee work for the next six months to see how we can revitalize families. Now there’s a challenge,” Walsh said.