Report: DCF 'missed opportunities' to help children killed in fire
By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff
An independent investigation of the fire deaths of two South Boston girls has found that state social workers failed to "connect the dots" and recognize the dangers posed to the children by the drug use, violence, and mental health of their parents.
 Sophia and Acia Reisopoulos-Johnson |
Fourteen-year-old Acia Reispoulos-Johnson died with her 3-year-old sister, Sophia, in an early morning fire that was allegedly set by their mother's lover on April 6.
The investigation by the state's child advocate, Gail Garinger, suggests that the state Department of Children and Families failed to adequately document incidences of neglect that date back to 1995. It suggests the agency, when assessing the children's safety, did not fully integrate information from police and also did not interview other people involved in the children's lives who could have shed light on the dangers they faced.
"I think that this was really a systemic failure in this case," Garinger said this afternoon.
In a three-page summary of the investigation results released today, Garinger recommended better training of social workers, drug testing of parents with histories of substance abuse, and "improve(d) methods for assessing and measuring safety and risk." She also said that guardianship arrangements should be backed up in a court of law.
Acia Johnson was supposed to be living with her guardian, paternal grandmother Irene Gregory, when she died in the fire at her mother's South Boston row house. Their mother, Anna Reisopoulos, and father, Raymond Johnson Sr., have a record of drug addiction and petty thievery with a history of violent fights, and the DCF had obtained a court order to remove the children from their custody in 2003.
"Our goal has been to review DCF actions regarding the Reisopoulos-Johnson family with the advantage of hindsight, and to acknowledge concerns regarding agency practice with a view toward improving standards of performance," Garinger states in the summary report.
Garinger, who was appointed by Governor Deval Patrick just a few weeks after the fire, is turning over her final report with the list of recommendations to the governor. Patrick will decide what actions to take.
The Globe reported in June that the girls - along with their brother, Acia's twin, Ray Jr. - had lived in a troubled home for years before the fire. Shortly after the twins were placed with Gregory, they returned to live with Reisopoulos and Johnson, unbeknown to social workers, even though the workers repeatedly visited the children at their parents' South Boston home, and even though Reisopoulos reported that her children lived with her when she applied for housing subsidies, food stamps, and cash assistance.
Reisopoulos gave birth to her third child, Sophia, in the bathroom of her home in an attempt to shield her existence from the state. But Sophia, born in late 2004, did not remain a secret for long. The DCF investigated in 2006 when Sophia swallowed some of her mother's anti-anxiety medication, but found that it was not unsafe for her to be there.
In the wake of the Globe story in June, chronicling the lapses that led in part to the girls' deaths, the DCF announced that it was adopting new policies to make sure endangered children were living with their court-appointed guardians. These steps include threatening guardians with charges of perjury if they lie to state officials and cross-checking records with those of other agencies.
The Office of the Child Advocate, created by executive order in December 2007 and included as part of “The Child Welfare Law” enacted in July 2008, was set up to ensure that every child involved with child welfare or juvenile justice agencies in the state is protected from harm and receives effective services.
Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.
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DCF and Foreign intelligence is the same. When DCF or the Government does not act on information they may have (like 9/11 or in the case of this fire), then they are ripped in the media.
When they do respond (like when DCF removes children from their parents or when the Government responds when they suspect a country is doing something bad), then they are ripped in the media.
If DCF took these kids away, Jesse Jackson and Deval Patrick would be "crying racism" on the steps of Beacon Hill. You can't have it both ways people.
Once again, the systems fault....I guess the killer should go free! Lets put the system behind bars.
Just remember situations like this when you complain about paying your taxes or funding social programs. Becuase of funding cuts there are not enough DCF workers, or enough houses to place children in to keep them safe. Why? Because John Q tax payer thinks these programs are wasteful.
Steve, what are you bring up racism??? did you forget they are white too?
Why does it always end up that the family who should be monitored -doesn't. The family that should be left alone gets ripped wide open by the DSS -DCF .No matter what the agency is called I think it should be either disbanded.
.Nothing but horror stories.Words get twisted-used against them-etc.
I want to say that if the agency does not get disbanded to suggest an"oversight Committee" The agency has way too much authority.They interview who they want to-not the people that should be interviewed.
Some reports that are received by this agency get responsses like:it was not worth the paper it was written on:The report is so far fetched that is usually is true.
These social workers need to stop walking around with their noses up in the air acting like they have control over people's children, when in reality they are doing nothing about it. There are too many children dying, being abused, beaten,tortured all while under DSS investigation.Shame shame!
John Q. Taxpayer providing housing, food stamps, as well as cash assistance to drug using child abusers. Life is good.
This why I left the field of social work. I had a client whose mother was a drunk crackhead. I told DSS the family was unfit. New Year's Eve the girl was alive, by new Years Day she was dead! Half of the social workers are in the field because they can't get a job anywere else. The qualified ones are looking for their next gig, and letting the state pay for their master's degree in the meantime. The legal system is a joke. I say we go back to the good old days and start taking kids away from parents and then let the parent prove that they are innocent. Social services operates on the premise that kids are better off with their parents. Just because you make 'em doesn't mean you are qualified to raise them.
"Just because you make 'em doesn't mean you are qualified to raise them. "
I could not have said that better, I called DSS, when these toddlers I knew were being left alone and unsupervised by their alcoholic mother, (still are) and the dispatcher kept asking me "Why are you calling?". I thought it was obvious, those poor girls.
Where was the grandmother in all of this? Was she not the guardian?Families need to take care of themselves. Not ask for the State or the Feds to do the dirty work. While it is very sad that these girls perished, had the grandmother taken them in as instructed, they would probably still be alive. The parents are a write off. The irony would be that the mother somehow gets a payout from the state despite having borne 50% of blame for the entire mess. Nice girlfriend. Hopefully the remaining sibs are in foster care with no parental contact. Shame shame shame. Social workers do a tremendous job given the fact that they have little funds and deal with LIARS.
How sad and pathetic this case is. These poor children died unneccasarily while their mother lived off ME!!! This is so sad and it makes me angry that it happened. When will the agency be held accountable for their non-actions? And the grandmother, what was she benefiting with a kickback? This just breaks my heart!!!
Former Juvenile Judge Garringer is a hypocrite. She talks about those being on the "front lines" of child abuse. The juvenile court is not on the front lines. Yeah, they listen to a story by a mother filing a CHINS who wants her teenager out of the house because they don't want to wash the dishes. What do they do? Call DCF. Drop everything (stop checking smoke alarms) come pick up the kid at the court. Parent is gone the kid has a bag of clothes. What about info on this kid?? Nothing. Put the kid in your car and drive all over the state finding a place to sleep for a kid no one wants.
Donovan
Here's a story for you. Here is how a DCF social worker gets a criminal offender record inquiry (CORI) check. All DCF social workers send an e-mail to one person in Central DCF office in Boston with information (name, ssn, dob). Literally, hundreds a day. This one person then does the check and sends the e-mail with information. We have been pushing for years, for each DCF office to have access to this database to quickly do review and check this information. Probation department has refused.
DSS Case workers are grossly overworked and underpaid. They desperately need resources in order to effectively to their job. DSS employees aren't in this for the pay, they truly want to make a difference. The state govt needs to trim the fat from the budget and re-allocate funding to DSS. Children are the future and we need to take care of them.
A cross check of names and addresses with other agencies seems like something that could be automated. In this department, any procedure that risks human error will result in more headlines.
has the mother been charged with fraud for applying for benefits when she did not have custody? Good example of the undeserving poor. Let's help people that lost their jobs, not those who think welfare and free housing is a career choice. We need to bring back orphanages if kids can not be adopted . This will sound tough, but over time these loser mothers will stop having kids as no free housing or welfare. Thet know about birth control, they wnat these kids as free meal ticket, or should I say drug ticket.
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
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