DSS chief admits agency failed boy; mother is arrested

Official says slow response allowed abuse to continue

MIDDLEBOROUGH - As the head of the state Department of Social Services admitted to a litany of mistakes, police arrested the mother of a 7-year-old boy yesterday, accusing her of letting her son be repeatedly beaten, bloodied, and burned with cigarettes by her boyfriend.

The mother was arrested after the child gave a heartbreaking interview to police in which he said that his mother was present when the boyfriend, David J. Privette, touched his genitals and buttocks with a cigarette, according to a police report filed in court yesterday.

He also said that Privette hit him with a belt and that the beating was severe enough to draw blood, according to the report. His mother, Michelle Henry, heard the beating, the boy told police, and she saw his blood on the floor.

Privette remained in jail without bail after his arrest Monday, and authorities filed more severe charges against him yesterday.

Henry wept throughout her arraignment yesterday afternoon in Wrentham District Court, where she pleaded not guilty to charges of reckless endangerment and assault and battery on a child causing serious bodily injury.

Afterward, DSS Commissioner Angelo McClain said that his department failed the boy on multiple fronts.

McClain said the agency had become so alarmed by the situation at the boy's home that it initiated proceedings to take custody of the boy and his 3-year-old half-sister earlier this month. But he admitted DSS had waited too long to take the action.

McClain also listed other mistakes, including failing to learn the identity and criminal background of Privette, a former convict who had served time for crack cocaine possession and assaulting a police officer. McClain also said the agency failed to do its own physical examination of the boy, which would have revealed his injuries.

"We have to make sure we are not relying on someone else to examine the child," he said. "We need to do that examination. And when there's an allegation of a burn, that's way out there in terms of acceptable behavior."

The agency had been aware of neglect in the home since 2002 and periodically visited until 2005, when caseworkers concluded that Henry was a fit mother.

In December, a nurse at the boy's school notified DSS that he had said Privette beat him with a belt. Caseworkers went to the house, but found no bruises on the boy and only urged Privette and Henry to avoid corporal punishment. On March 4, the school contacted DSS again after the boy showed a school nurse a bruise on his back and said Privette had burned his genitals with cigarettes and urinated on his head while he was taking a bath. But Privette was not arrested until Monday, when the school contacted DSS a third time after teachers saw burn marks on the boy's genitals, pelvis, and buttocks.

McClain defended the agency's handling of the December report, saying caseworkers appropriately concluded that the boy was being disciplined with a belt and that a warning sufficed.

McClain said DSS opened a new file on the family at that time, ordered Henry to attend parenting classes, and began making regular visits to the home. Caseworkers at several points questioned Privette about his identity in order to run a background check, a step often taken with new caretakers who enter troubled families. McClain said Privette was evasive and gave his name as David Jones. Unable to verify the name, DSS initiated proceedings sometime in early March to take custody of the boy and his half-sister. But McClain said the agency should have taken the action much earlier.

"When we have a new caretaker in the family picture, and we feel like we're getting the runaround on who they are, we have to move more quickly," he said.

McClain said his agency also made a mistake in failing to do its own physical examination of the boy after receiving the report on March 4, which would have documented his injuries and allowed them to notify police. Instead, caseworkers had assumed that the school nurse had checked the boy for burn marks on his genitals, though she had not.

Additionally, as soon as the agency realized that Privette was being evasive about his identity, caseworkers should have aggressively confronted the mother and warned her that they would take custody of the children if the lies continued. Such a move might have persuaded Henry to disclose what was going on in the home, McClain said.

DSS took custody of both children on Monday and is investigating the possibility that the girl was also abused.

"We're very concerned about the trauma that both kids were exposed to," McClain said.

The agency's missteps infuriated Sophie O. Henry, the sister of the boy's father. She lives in Florida but was in Boston yesterday to visit her daughter.

"This is an outrage," Henry said. "I knelt down and I was crying, and my daughter was crying. We are so brokenhearted."

The boy's father, Delgardo Henry of Brockton, is under a court order to stay away from Michelle Henry, who has accused him of abuse, Sophie Henry said.

Sophie Henry said she contacted DSS yesterday and told the agency she wants to adopt the boy.

"I'm not leaving here without him because I don't want him in the foster system," she said. "I'm not letting him go back to his parents."

Privette, 22, was initially charged Tuesday with two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and assault and battery on a child. Yesterday, police added the additional charges of indecent assault and battery and mayhem, a felony that can carry a lengthy prison term. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com.