Patrick wants agencies revamped
Aiming to ease process of getting children services
Governor Deval Patrick has proposed that the state reorganize the agencies that handle social and health services for children to make it easier for parents to navigate what some have described as a complex bureaucratic maze.
Under a proposal his administration has just begun discussing with advocates and lawmakers, the Department of Youth Services, which handles juvenile offenders, and the Department of Children and Families, which provides social services, would be placed under a newly created Department of Children, Youth, and Families.
This new department would have three main branches. A Juvenile Justice Division would handle the duties now taken up by the Department of Youth Services. A new Child Welfare Division would take over the responsibilities now handled by the Department of Children and Families. And a new Child Wellness, Development & Behavioral Health Division would oversee services for children with disabilities.
The plan, which is still being drafted, would also establish “Family Access Centers’’ through the state in the hopes of making it simpler for residents to find services for children.
Some administrative and operational services would be shared across the new department. Marilyn Chase, the governor’s assistant secretary in charge of children’s services, said the proposal is not designed to save money in the midst of an ongoing state budget crunch, but neither will it add costs.
“It’s not our goal to have fewer employees, so this is not a budget management process,’’ she said. “This is very much a process driven by parents who have complained about not being able to access services as efficiently as possible.’’
Further confusing the system for parents is the fact that, in addition to the Department of Youth Services and the Department of Children and Families, the state has at least five other agencies — such as the departments of public health and mental health — that provide services to children.
Charles D. Baker, a Republican and former state health and human services secretary who unsuccessfully challenged Patrick in the fall election, made reorganizing the health and human services bureaucracy a main plank in his platform. He had argued that “many case managers and many people are working at cross-purposes,’’ although he never specified which agencies or services he would combine.
After the election, Patrick said he wanted to borrow some of Baker’s ideas. But Chase argues that Baker’s push was not the motivation for this proposal, and that the governor had been mulling the reorganization prior to the governor’s race.
She said the plan will be developed in greater detail after hearing from advocates and lawmakers over the next several months.
The plan will probably require Legislative approval before taking effect.
Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com 
