Report: 184 children were abused or neglected while in DCF care last year
A new report from the Office of the Child Advocate details the mistreatment of children receiving state services.
All eyes are on the Department of Children and Families in the wake of recent tragedies, like the 7-year-old boy who officials said was abused by his father and lapsed into a coma just two weeks after a social worker with the state’s child protection agency visited their home.
A new report issued by the Office of the Child Advocate shows that the 7-year-old is not alone—there were 31 supported allegations of sexual abuse, 109 of physical abuse, and 490 of neglect to children receiving state services in 2014. The OCA aims to ensure that children involved with state agencies, like the DCF, are protected from harm and receive quality services.
Last year, the Office of the Child Advocate reviewed reports for 184 children who were in DCF custody when the report was filed. Many cases involved multiple supported allegations of abuse.
The majority of these reports—117—are related to children in foster homes. Many children in residential placement are also in DCF custody; another 53 reports concerned these children. The remaining 14 children were the subject of reports in school, child care, hospital, or other out-of-home settings.
In all, there were 633 individual allegations of maltreatment in 2014. The previous year, the OCA reviewed 538 individual allegations of mistreatment.
When a child receiving services from an agency under the Executive Office of Health and Human Services dies or is injured, the agency reports the death to the OCA as critical incident reports, the report explains. In 2014, the DCF filed 96 critical incident reports.
Between 2010 and 2014, 179 of all critical incidents reported by all EOHHS agencies resulted in the child’s death.
“Review of these reports has impressed upon The Child Advocate and the OCA staff the importance of screening, training, and supervising our child-serving workforce and adopting a trauma-informed approach to care,’’ Gail Garinger, the state’s Child Advocate, wrote in the report.
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