After negotiations with SEIU 509—the union that represents social workers in Massachusetts—Governor Charlie Baker expects to release updated and reformed intake and supervisory policies for the Department of Children and Families, he told Boston Public Radio Thursday.
"We said, working with 509—which is the social worker union, which had no one had ever worked with before, either—that we would have available before Thanksgiving an updated and reformed policy around intake, based on best practices and best standards around the country, and around supervision, again around best practices around the country," Baker said.
The agency's existing intake policies—used to determine whether or not a child is at risk—have not been updated in 10 years. A supervisory policy to determine how serious cases should rise through the chain of command when necessary does not exist at all, Baker said.
The move to reform existing policies was prompted, in part, by the revelation that a caseworker for Bella Bond copied and pasted outdated information about Bond's mother, which led to the case being prematurely closed.
"People at the time basically said, 'You're going to negotiate two huge policies like that with 509 and you'll get them done in basically a month?' And we said 'yes.' There was a lot of dubiousness about that," Baker said.
"I think it's fair to say, in this point in time, we will be able to announce those policies next week," he continued.
No Stance On Transgender Public Accommodations Bill
Governor Charlie Baker will not take a position on legislation protecting transgender people from discrimination in public places—including restaurants, locker rooms, and bathrooms—until it crosses his desk.
"Legislation has a funny tendency of changing through the process of moving through the legislature," he said. "The details in legislation matter and, until I see the details of this one...as I will with most other bills, I will withhold judgment."
Baker had said previously that individuals who feel they have been discriminated against should take their charges to court. However, Attorney General Maura Healey wrote in a letter on October 21 that she does not believe adequate protections exist in the law to prosecute such cases.
"Our bargaining power is limited, because because liability is not explicit under any case, court decision, statute or regulation," she wrote.
When asked to respond to the Attorney General's claim, Baker said: "If someone was discriminated against and took their case to court, I would hope and expect the courts would stand up for them. That's what I said and that's what I continue to believe."
To hear more from Governor Charlie Baker, tune in to Boston Public Radio's segment "Ask the Gov" above.
