The number of troubled children in Massachusetts taken out of their homes and placed under state supervision rose steeply in the past year, according to a report released Sept. 11. The number of children placed in foster care grew by almost 1,000 – or 13 percent – between March 2013 and March, 2014, said the report by the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Center for the Study of Social Policy.
There were 8,190 children in out-of-home care in March of 2014, according to the report. Meanwhile, caseloads for social workers are “unacceptably high,” notes the report. The number of staff supervising more than 20 youths ballooned more than five-fold from 187 workers statewide in July 2013 to 1,054 workers in June 2014.
“All evidence points to a Massachusetts system in crisis – plagued by a pervasive lack of public trust, widespread dissatisfaction from staff, clients, providers, judges, legislators and advocates and inconsistent and often failing results for children, youth and families,’’ the report says.
Judith Meltzer, deputy director of the center, said at a briefing on the release of the report - “The Utility of Trouble -From Crisis to Opportunity: Child Welfare Reform in Massachusetts” – that numbers of children taken from their homes has increased in reaction to public outcry over the disappearance and death of Jeremiah Oliver, a four-year-old who was involved with the state Department of Children and Families.
She said the increases of children under supervision and the consequent heavy caseloads in Massachusetts run against the national trend. Reforms, prompted by concerns of poor outcomes for children living away from their families, has led to declines in the number of foster children nationally.
The report – which offers five recommendations to improve the system – adds to several others that have been released in the past several months amid a growing focus on the struggling state welfare system. Recommendations include improving leadership, using data to prompt reform, and espousing programs that offer proven outcomes. Gail Garinger, the state’s Child Advocate, said at the briefing that state officials should heed the report’s recommendations.
However, she noted that there have been multiple reports over years about how to improve the state’s child welfare system with little change in the system. “We all pay lip service,’’ she said. “We all value our own children, but do we care enough to make a difference for all children?” The New England Center for Investigative Reporting this year has published several articles on child deaths in the system, focusing on abuse and neglect, drug-exposed children and higher rates of sudden infant deaths .
