A scathing report launched by the Office of the Child Advocate says the state has not executed sufficient to guard its youngest, most susceptible residents regardless of suggestions made following an investigation into the tragic dying of Harmony Montgomery.
“We made a variety of recommendations designed to address systemic challenges and failures that, in the OCA’s view, contributed to the deeply tragic decision to return Harmony to her father’s custody,” the OCA’s Fiscal Year 2022 Annual Report reads.
“Although the state has made progress on some of those recommendations, particularly those directed at the Department of Children and Families, the OCA continues to be concerned that the welfare and best interest of the child is not adequately presented in care and protection cases, putting some children in unsafe situations,” it continues.
According to authorities in New Hampshire, Adam Montgomery murdered his daughter Harmony someday late in 2019, when she was 5 years previous.
Harmony, based on a report into her dying revealed by OCA in May of 2022, had been within the care of Massachusetts’ DCF from 2014 till Adam Montgomery was launched from jail in February of 2019.
Despite the objections of DCF and the very fact the dad had spent subsequent to no time with the kid, he was granted custody of Harmony in February of 2019 with the blessings of a state-appointed legal professional who was ostensibly representing the woman.
Police in New Hampshire, the place Adam Montgomery lived with Harmony, started looking for her in December of 2021, two years after she was final seen alive. Montgomery was charged together with her second-degree homicide in October of 2022. Harmony Montgomery’s physique has by no means been recovered.
OCA’s findings in that report, they mentioned Wednesday, reveal what occurs when a toddler’s pursuits usually are not nicely thought of in courtroom proceedings.
“When children are not at the center of every aspect of the child protective system, when their unique individuality is not used to inform an understanding of parental capacity to care for them, then the system cannot truly protect them. The OCA’s Harmony Montgomery report describes the ripple effect of miscalculations of risk and an unequal weight placed on parents’ rights versus a child’s wellbeing,” they wrote.
Out of that report got here 11 suggestions for modifications to the state’s youngster welfare system, which the OCA now says the state’s judicial system and the Committee for Public Counsel Services haven’t carried out regardless of having months to take action, and “without some rebalancing of interests, children will be put in unsafe situations.”
The report additionally signifies that there was a slight downturn in “Critical Incident Reports” — these involving deaths, accidents, or critical emotional abuse — with the variety of such reported incidents dropping from 347 in fiscal 2021 to 320 stories in fiscal 2022. However, that’s nonetheless an enormous soar from the lower than 200 vital incidents reported in fiscal 2019. According to the report, there have been 81 deaths among the many under-21 inhabitants in Massachusetts final 12 months which generated a Critical Incident Report.
Reports of abuse in childcare settings had been up by 80%, total abuse and neglect stories up 42%, and grievance line calls elevated by nearly 21%.
“Children and families are struggling,” OCA Director Maria Mossaides mentioned with the report’s launch. “Increasingly, the OCA is one place they can turn to in challenging times to get help navigating complex state systems. Ensuring the welfare of our most vulnerable children and families remains our top priority.”
According to the report, there are almost 1.4 million youngsters below 18 in Massachusetts, of which 13% reside under the poverty line and 14% expertise trauma.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”