Legislators pass bill to boost rules against child abuse
With several high-profile cases of child abuse seared into public memory, legislators yesterday approved a bill they said will strengthen the state's child welfare system, with stricter standards for how agencies investigate abuse.
The measure is intended to prevent the sorts of cases lawmakers said have become all too familiar: instances in which children were killed or harmed after state social workers had contact with families.
The bill "sets up a framework to handle the most troubling and disturbing cases . . . and how we can prevent them from even happening in the first place," House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi said at a press conference. Governor Deval Patrick is expected to sign the legislation.
Under the bill, three unsubstantiated reports of abuse - cases in which a child's injuries were examined and attributed to self-abuse, for example - within a three-month period would trigger an automatic investigation by a Department of Social Services board. Also, if three such reports were spread over a year, a board review would also be triggered.
The changes are intended to function as "another set of eyes looking at the matter," said state Senator Karen Spilka, Democrat of Ashland.
Critics have cited potential loopholes in the state's child welfare system following a string of startling abuse cases.
In 2005, 14-year-old Haleigh Poutre lapsed into a coma after she received a near-fatal beating from her adoptive mother, who had previously been monitored by the Department of Social Services. A few months later, 4-year-old Dontel Jeffers, who suffered a black eye, bruises, and a ruptured intestine, died in the care of his foster mother. And in 2006, 4-year-old Rebecca Riley of Hull died after she was given an overdose of psychiatric drugs.
Lawmakers at yesterday's press conference pointed to Poutre's case as the impetus for overhauling the system. "Haleigh brought us here today, quite tragically," said House majority leader John Rogers of Norwood.
The bill boosts penalties for professionals who are required to report suspected abuse, such as doctors and teachers, but who fail to carry out that duty. It puts into law an independent Office of the Child Advocate, which Patrick created by executive order. 