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DCF chief strikes a conciliatory note in State House hearing

E-mail|Link|Comments () November 17, 2009 05:53 PM

By Patricia Wen, Globe Staff

Anthony "Angelo" McClain, who received a stinging no-confidence vote from his social workers over the weekend, struck a contrite and conciliatory note today before a legislative panel, saying he felt lucky to oversee the dedicated staff in the state's child protection agency and hoped they would help him implement needed reforms.

Commissioner Anthony McClain

"I'm really blessed to be a leader of an organization that has such incredible workers," McClain said in measured tones during the five-hour hearing in which some 80 spectators, including social workers, human service providers, attorneys and parents, packed a State House hearing room.

McClain, who was appointed two and a half years ago by Gov. Deval Patrick to head the Department of Children and Families, has been accused by many workers of being a remote, top-down-style manager who seems more interested in improving agency statistics, than rank and file morale. He has also come under fire for quickly unrolling this past summer a series of major changes in the way cases are initially evaluated and investigated, causing mass confusion by social workers who complained about being under-trained for the new system.

Today, the 52-year-old commissioner seemed eager to show a new side. Noting that many spectators in the hearing room wore purple T-shirts, representing the social workers' union, he declared with a smile, "Purple is beginning to become my favorite color."

After the hearing by the Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities, Zevorah Ortega-Bagni, president of the DCF chapter of Local 509 of the Service Employees International Union, said she was cautiously optimistic that McClain was serious about establishing a better relationship with grassroots workers.

She hoped this was not just rhetoric to help maintain his job, after her 2,700-member union, in an unprecedented move, voted by a 10-1 ratio to issue a "no confidence" vote in McClain's leadership.

"His job's on the line - I know that, he knows that," said Ortega-Bagni, who also testified before the committee.

While the hearing was set up several months ago to get an update on change in the long-troubled agency, the event ended up seeming like a relationship therapy session between McClain and his rank-and-file union.

Lawmakers urged him to work on his "communication skills," while lauding social workers for their tireless dedication.