The Boston Globe reports that Harry Spence, DSS Commissioner, RETURNED Twenty MILLION unused dollars. The combined salaries for every social worker at the agency come to only $11,000,000!!!See: http://www.boston.co…
I have had clients, over and over, denied services such as therapy or urine screens “because there is no money.”
Yet the MSM Globe says Spence has only had five years. That is not long enough. Keep him and give him a chance! After all, he wants a social worker in every school. The Globe seems to think that a DSS worker in every school would “help” families, not be more “Big Brother is Watching YOU!”
How did DSS save all this money – by using foster care instead of residential placements. This is a savings on the backs of children who need therapeutic intervention.
It has become much harder to get services for children and families. Why? Because there is no commitment to family preservation and services for families at the top of the agency – Harry Spence must go.
DSS is supposed to be the place families go for help – sometimes DSS is all there is for a child or family in crisis.
With $20 million going back into the general fund, while vulnerable families are denied therapy, denied housing, denied parent aids, denied parenting classes because there are no funds is crazy – unless DSS has become nothing more than an adoption industry conveyor belt whenever a healthy infant comes their way. After all, the adoption industry and “for profit” foster care corporations like Mentor have paid lobbyists, who contribute to all the right politicians. Who speaks for children who only want Mom and Dad to get housing so they can go home?
Only 56% of the children removed from their families ever go home again, according to the testimony of the Yellow Ribbon Kids club to the House Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect. In Nebraska, for example, 98% go home “because Nebraska believes in services to the whole family.”
Something is very wrong, and I do not want to give Harry Spence another five years at DSS, do you?
While I don’t disagree that something is a bit rotten at DSS, I am a bit dubious about drawing conclusions based on the percentage of children who go home. Is Nebraska’s 98% rate due to its provision of services to the whole family or because they place a premium on family reunification, even when it means danger for children? I don’t know the answer to that, but it’s a worthwhile question to ask.
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I’m not trying to be anal retentive or argumentative, but I’m always skeptical of data that is thrown around without any context.
Health Care For All in partnership with Children’s Hospital, Health Law Advocates and the Mass Prevention for Cruelty to Children have engineered a proposal to provide improved services for children with mental health needs.[http://www.hcfama.or…]
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The Globe covered related issues last fall and reported:[http://www.boston.co…]
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These issues are closely linked to the failure of DSS to provide services in timely, effective and sustainable manners to children and families. Health care and social service providers constantly hear that there is not enough money in the DSS budget to handle cases.
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One suggestion is to restructure the department into two agencies with separate functions. One agency would be responsible for investigation of abuse and neglect. The other would be assistance and support to children and families. Separate the functions so that parents and providers are not afraid to cause greater harm to children in need by involving DSS. The current system is muddled at best. The agency needs to have new leadership to overcome the horrifically negative perception that egregious mistakes have rendered. The needs for child and family services are astronomical. The need for new direction is paramount.
You are so right! The prosecutorial/judgmental function has totally over shadowed the “social services” function in this state. These are separate functions, and to get help to those who need it [where a family would benefit from supports like respite care when the child has special needs, etc.] but as it is now, the DSS is about as helpful and friendly as the Spanish Inquisition in 1483e – who wants Torguemada in their living room?
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MassHealth covers tox screens. I always get a standing order from the doctor to randomly test kids in my house. Any doctor will do that for a parent.. I teach parents to do this all the time. I wish more parents would choose to do so.
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Therapy.. the issue there is the number of therapists. I’ve always found one ok, but in many parts of the state they are few and far between who will deal with MassHealth.
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Returned because he was required legally to do so. They were appropriated for use in paying for 24 hour restrictive residential care.. which he has been phasing out except for the toughest cases. He can’t just spend the money elsewhere, the legislature appropriated it for for that use.
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The new budget for next year will reappropriate that money into the other areas that he has already talked about.. community services.
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No one at the state level is going to let him spend on the new services until he can show the savings from the ones he is moving from.
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Now, having lived with many of these kids for a number of years, I think we may need to reconsider some of this.. but he is right in that you can’t just warehouse these kids til they are 18 and then throw them away. We might as well just send them to jail at 15 instead of 18.
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No question here, but do the rest of us pay for that housing forever?
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Should a kid immediately return to a situation that is just going to fall apart again in six months? The disruption after every move costs a kid more than a year of emotional development and education. The system needs to help the family get stable, but be sure it will remain stable or the harm is worse.
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Sorry, but I know these kids.. and there is no way in our state that 98% of these parents are capable of getting these kids back.
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Many can, and probably would get them faster if they were more willing to do what is necessary rather than just being stubborn or overly aggressive when dealing with the system.
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Many do.. and I’ve seen a lot of foster parents work with bio parents to help transition the kids back and even keep in touch with the children throughout their lives… becoming close friends to the family.
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But I’ve seen many cases.. many many cases.. where parents would get their kids into the system and then dissappear, or cases where the parents show up drunk or high for visits with their kids, or any number of other things.
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For example, what about a working parent, who does not qualify for MassHealth and whose insurance doesn’t cover screens [yes I have represented many such] – or parents required to take screens with no drug history – this happens a LOT, see Adoption of Leland for an egregious case: http://caselaw.lp.fi…
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I represented an African American father who earned $25,000 a year, was subject to two child support orders [from prior marriages} – put his kids through college, had the same job 15 years, but could not afford housing. He was told get housing or we change the goal to adoption. They did. He was made to take drug screens for three years, I suppose because he is African American, took them all – and got his Blue Cross to pay – every one was negative.
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Are their tragic cases where DSS is “all there is” because both parents are essentially missing in action? Yes. Is the care provided for those children sufficient for them to “make it” …. unfortunately, NO. Is there a vast number of legal orphans TODAY in OUR state? Yes. Go to http://www.mareinc.o… These children are ALL legal orphans. Parental rights have been terminated and they are not adopted.
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Some of these children had willing grandparents – as did Dontel Jeffers. When parental rights are terminated under present laws, children lose their grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles – and often siblings.
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For more on family reunification, go to http://www.futureofc… There is disproportionate impact on African American and immigrant families by the state-sponsored termination of parental rights.
The parental rights issues are legal issues that fall under the adversarial process of the courts.
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We all hate this, but when its a choice of letting a goverment beurocracy take away rights, or the court.. I think it has to be the court. At least with the court there is some sort of due process (unfair as it seems to be).
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You were writing about funding used to pay for the care of children already in the custody of the state.
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That 20 million was used for residential treatment programs (warehouses) that he is working to get converted to community based programs to identify and support families before they ever get to the point where things fall apart.
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It’s tough to discuss some of this, as you know, because all of my specific cases fall under confidentiality so I can only speak to generalities.
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But for every case you list that is eggregious on the part of the state coming down on the parents, I could probably show a case where it was deserved resulting in children that have been damaged for life and have no chance of success.
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Coming at it from an adversarial point of view does not help your point… but as a lawyer thats your job.
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The department is already working to move towards the “Systems of Care” approach that is starting to succeed in other states. Isn’t this what you are looking for?
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Its the press making circuses of a few cases (where the press cannot know all the facts) that makes it difficult for anyone to succeed in this business.
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Yes, the parental rights issues need to be focussed on as well, but remember these people are just people.. doing a difficult and dangerous job for little pay.
The debate about placing children with extreme medical or psychiatric needs, who have been removed from their families or come from failed families in residential placement or in the community is not new. As Judge Ponsor so recently held, the mental health services available for such children in Massachusetts, through Mass Health, are woefully inadequate.
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Further, the harm from placing children with major medical needs, in which category I include major mental illness such as psychosis, or neurological disorders, such as temporal lobe epilepsy in situations without sufficient services and supports could be tragic. I can give two examples from my practice.
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Two sisters were received from New York State, where their parents rights had been terminated. They were placed with a well-meaning family of the same ethnic background. The adoption disrupted when the adopted girls sexually abused the couple’s biological daughter. The adoptive parents, in this disrupted adoption, were never told either that both their adopted daughters had been sexually abused, nor that their biological mother suffered from both a major mental illness involving psychosis, and severe cognitive limitations. The adoptive parents in this sad case received no training, and no respite in these issues and descended into corporal punishment, and the filing of a 51A against them. The disruption of this adoption after several years has severely scarred both these girls. I know. I have been their attorney now for seven years. And without residential placements, neither of these girls, now teenagers, could have been stabilized following a community placement that failed because of lack of training, lack of support, and a failure to provide the intensive services that adoptive family needed.
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In another case, a single parent approached DSS, seeking mental health services for their child. The child, angry because the parent had remarried, accused the parent of abuse. Rather then providing services to the family, the child was removed, and a termination was sought. The single parent continued to request mental health services for the child. When, in stead, DSS demanded that the parent obtain a psychological evaluation, batterer’s treatment, and a page -long list of tasks, the parent voluntarily surrendered their parental rights. I was later told as appellate counsel that this working class parent could not do all these things and stay employed, and that the real need was mental health services for the child. By the time this case was on appeal, this child had stolen from several foster homes, and was parts unknown. The explosive behaviors for which the parent had sought help were borne out by the child’s behavior; no help was ever received by the parent nor was “in home counseling” offered or available, or respite, or anything other than a list of tasks for this struggling single parent.
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My concern is that despite the positive rhetoric about the new DSS model, it may be more about saving money then helping families and children. It is too easy to blame difficult behavior in a child on the parent. However, Autism, temporal lobe epilepsy due to birth injury, Asperger Syndrome, schizophrenia, are NOT caused by parents. Parents need respite care for children with these conditions to avoid family burnout, therapists who will come to the home, prompt and competent diagnostic testing, and residential placements at certain critical times.
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Absent a major change in the services available and how these services are delivered, this initiative is dangerously simplistic. I am concerned that the most vulnerable children, who cannot protect themselves, will be the ones to pay the price of the current DSS initiative. I do not see evidence of greater availability of therapeutic support, parental or caregiver respite care, or diagnostic services.
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I recently had a child disrupt from four foster homes before DSS would agree to the residential program that the clinicians had requested from the beginning. That child should not have been put through four failures. Real six year old – real case.
[Sorry, but I know these kids.. and there is no way in our state that 98% of these parents are capable of getting these kids back] You know “these kids?” I’m sorry but I’m willing to roll the dice that their parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles, “know them” better than you ever will.
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[Many can, and probably would get them faster if they were more willing to do what is necessary rather than just being stubborn or overly aggressive when dealing with the system] People with attitudes like yours were responsible for slavery, the Holocaust, and segregation … and the exact reason they continued for as long as they did at the cost of many innocent lives. As long as you continue to benefit financially from these children that “you know,” you will always encourage and support this system. I personally support and encourage more parents to be “stubborn” and “overly aggressive” when dealing with a tyrannical abusive system. If more parents took a stand, as Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, etc did, the corruption would stop.
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[But I’ve seen many cases.. many many cases.. where parents would get their kids into the system and then dissappear, or cases where the parents show up drunk or high for visits with their kids, or any number of other things] Parents are not simply “disappearing” we are being forced, by court order, to have no contact with our children unless we agree to sign over our rights or “comply” and agree that its ok that social services should be allowed to violate our civil and Constitutional rights. Many of the parents I work with or have met are neither drug abusers nor drunks, myself included, and never have been. Nice try, in order to keep benefiting from the system, you must work tirelessly to convince the public that we all “got what we deserved” and our children “deserve decent parents and a better way of life.” As long as I’m alive, I will continue exposing the system that you obviously love.
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TMajor
http://www.squidoo.com/abolishcps/
I do not “benefit” from these cases. I give up work at a full private rate, or do them pro bono part of the time.
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I work to help parents reclaim their children, and children retain contact with their siblings – and if you have read my other child welfare related posts on this page you would know that is the case.
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All too often, in fact, poverty is confused, wrongly, with neglect. Professor Richard Wexler has it right! See:
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http://www.nccpr.org…
You state: “Many can, and probably would get them faster if they were more willing to do what is necessary rather than just being stubborn or overly aggressive when dealing with the system.” (with regards to parents getting their children back)
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I fail to see how parents being “overly aggressive” at efforts to get their children back home should be used as a negative term. Most parents under the current system are damned if they do, and damned if they don’t and it has nothing to do with their parenting behavior or skills. If they fight passionately to get their children back, when they feel they have been wrongly taken, then they are termed “aggresive” or “angry”. If they don’t fight hard for their kids they are called “lacking in motivation” and it is determined that they don’t want them badly enough.
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Federal adoption bonus’ that are being handed out in this state have much more to do with “supported” decisions and the lack of reunification services than bad parenting skills ever will. Remove the HUGE financial incentives for adopting kids out and you will see some major changes to the number of “supported” cases, and quickly.
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Harry Spence has had five, very long years, to change the way the Dept. operates in many regards. One of the biggest failures is the long-term outlook for the children aging out of the Dept’s care. The rate of homelessness, lack of job skills and education that these kids face when aging out are a disgrace.
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Another area where he has failed miserably is with regards to Fair Hearings. According to the State Auditor’s report there are approx 5,000 families that have been waiting in excess of 8 years for their Fair Hearings to be held by the Dept. Those hearings BY LAW are to be held within 90 days and are the ONLY means of disputing a “supported” finding of abuse or neglect against a caregiver. If Mr. Spence truly had the best interests of these families and children at heart he would have seen to it that, on just one of the more than 1825 days that he has been at the helm, families were given the due process rights that they were entitled to.
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What do you think the consequences are for a child that is wrongly removed, yet whose parents do not have an opportunity to get the decision reversed at a Fair Hearing for many years???
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The Dept. just isn’t “getting it right” in far, far too many cases.
You are so right here. Thanks for joining this discussion. I keep seeing parents, who are not unfit, but who are poor, deprived of their children who are shipped to those who own their own homes, have incomes above $100,000.00 – and who still get subsidies most of the time while the poor parents get ZERO.
I have enjoyed following your posts to the group as you apparently are familiar with the way things work at the DSS. Your insight is refreshing and informative.
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I completely agree with you that it is not a matter of providing even the right services for the situation, but any services at all.
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In MA, a whopping 89.8% of all substantiated cases were supported for concerns (not necessarily documentable reasons) of neglect, 16.2% for physical abuse, 3% for sexual abuse, and 0.3 for emotional abuse. Yet the Dept felt that, 1 out of every 62 children in the state of MA, was abused or neglected severly enough to warrant removal from their family home.
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Does the state not have the resources to provide a child with a warm winter coat instead of removing them from parents who are struggling financially? Does the state not have the resources to provide a family with groceries to get them by for a week until their next paycheck is issued instead of traumatizing an innocent child by taking them away from loving parents? Someone please explain to me the logic (other than federal bonus dollars) of not temporarily supporting a struggling family and instead spending those very same funds on paying foster families to house a child due to concerns of “neglect”?
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If the Dept has the money to fly 36 case workers to the state of texas (no doubt by First Class), put them all into hotel rooms, pay for their food, and of course the “miscellaneous” expenses that they surely incurred – then I think a few winter coats and hats or a tank of oil to a needy family might have been money better spent.
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If Deval Patrick does only ONE thing during his 4 years while in office it should be to give Harry Spence his walking papers.
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Another sad fact is that until there is an independent organization overseeing the Dept’s “operations” and the juvenile courtrooms in this state crack open their doors to public scrutiny – the status quo will continue, ad nauseum. JMHO :>))
…could you please fix the title line of the post. It is obviously in error, and it is not only annoying, but it is also confusing.
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And after the title line has been fixed, please delete this comment.
…alas, it will be preserved above for all posterity.
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Until…THIS
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Actually, what I wanted to say is the exchange between Shawn and Amber above is quite interesting. Keep going.
…the problem with Shawn and Amber’s comments is that they are merely nibbling around the edges. Nobody seems to be willing to recognize the fact that health care financing in the USofA is totally disfunctional, and needs to be changed. But the changes that are required would affect the livelihoods of more than a few people. So it won’t be changed.
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So, I hate to tell you, it isn’t going to change. So, it isn’t really worth spending a lot of time on. Really. Too many people have too much at stake in their livelihoods: it isn’t going to change.
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The USofA is locked into a disfunctional health care delivery and financing system (the financing part being the most important). I could go on for hours over our experience with doctors in Germany (which provides at least as good care at a much lower cost).
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I might go on forever about the manifold inefficiencies of the US economic system–not just the health care financing system–but it would take months to do. If I was interested in doing so, maybe I should write a book.
DSS, CPS, CYF, and every single government funded criminal organization should be required to “return” every single penny collected, if and when an independent investigative team determines the funds were received by illegal means. If this team can prove that social workers, attorneys for the state, judges, psychiatrists, and other “professionals” have defrauded tax payers and the government, not only should funds be returned but these white collar criminals should be prosecuted for their crimes — federal funding should not simply be reissued and reallocated.
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America has become a country that allows “professionals” to (1) steal children from innocent parents without the parent ever being charged or convicted of a crime; (2) justify their “legalized” kidnappings by falsifying documents in a court of “law;” (3) commit felony perjury in a court of “law;” (4) deny children and their parents due process while violating every Constitutional and civil law currently on our books … as well as laws firmly established by the United Nations. Additionally, therapists/social workers are collecting funds for “services” NEVER rendered … or for services the child nor the parents needed. For example, If a child is removed from their home because the parents were unable to pay their utility bills, why are parents being required to take psychological evaluations, counseling, drug tests, homemaking skills, etc?
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I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on television, I am just a parent that lost her first born and only child of 10 years due to the lies and corruption of a very sick system. If you’re interested Shaw A, here is our story: http://abolishcps.bl…
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As things currently stand, the only supporters of “the system” are those that are benefiting monetarily. Foster care has become a big money business for everyone that works for and with CPS … and due to welfare reform, it has become a profitable transition for women that have simply moved from the welfare roll to the foster care roll … as a result children are needlessly being beaten, molested, raped and even killed while in “care.” Women with little to no marketable job skills are now able to supplement their boyfriends/husbands income, while our children suffer.
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It is time to end the abuse of children and their innocent parents in every county across the nation!!
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TMajor
http://www.squidoo.com/abolishcps/
Yes, this is a real pheonomenon. Sometimes it IS all a kid has – but far too often, it is part of an industry with expanding layers of expensive beauracracy, such as the recent addition of so-called “lead agencies” by DSS who now dictate to social workers what to provide [if anything] for their clients, and the lead agencies absorb more $$$ then was ever provided to pay for services to anyone – child or parent.