MARCH IS National Social Work Month, but there isn't much to celebrate for a 7-year-old boy from Middleborough. On March 4, he told a school nurse that his mother's boyfriend had burned his genitals. The nurse informed the state Department of Social Services, yet DSS officials failed to examine the child or notify law enforcement until Monday, when the school called again after teachers saw burn marks on the boy's genitals and buttocks.
Failure to intervene on March 4 was a stunning act of child abandonment by an agency responsible for protecting children from abuse and neglect. The family had been known to DSS since 2002. This case did not fall into one of those gray areas so often encountered by DSS social workers, who must sift through 70,000 reports each year, fewer than half of which are ever substantiated. This report came from a school nurse - required by law to report abuse - who observed a bruise on the child's back. It required that DSS officials conduct an immediate full body examination of the child. Yet they failed to take timely action, just as they failed to quickly uncover the true identity and criminal background of David Privette, the man accused of burning the boy.
The slow response could be a sign of serious trouble in the Plymouth-based southeastern regional office. DSS Commissioner Angelo McClain is promising a thorough review. To his credit, he didn't try to deny the agency's mistakes. He still needs to determine if his staff's action was sufficiently "egregious to merit discipline." Such a review must focus not only on the child's social worker, but the immediate supervisor and area manager.
Privette faces numerous charges, including indecent assault and battery and mayhem, a felony. The child's mother, Michelle Henry, was also arrested and faces charges including reckless endangerment. Both the boy and his half-sister have been removed from the home - two of about 10,000 such children in foster care this year.
The Middleborough case is not only heartbreaking but a sign of weakness in the state's social service system. Forward-looking states, like Washington, are using data creatively to equalize case loads, improve response times, and develop tools to help case workers determine which complaints present the greatest danger to children. Such efforts are not just sophisticated pencil pushing. They save lives.
McClain says Massachusetts is trying to adopt similar programs. To one little boy in Middleborough, however, it must appear that the state has a long way to go.
