Baker launches investigation into Auburn foster child's death
Gov. Charlie Baker called the death of a two-year girl and the hospitalization of a 22-month-old girl living in the same Auburn foster home over the weekend "tragic and frustrating," as he promised full criminal and internal investigations to determine how the incidents occurred and how they could have been prevented.
"It's all hands on deck," Baker told reporters at a Monday afternoon press conference in his office where officials had few new details to offer publicly on the cause of the tragedy.
State and Auburn police, along with Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early, are investigating the death and hospitalization of the two young girls after the foster mother called 911 on Saturday afternoon and authorities found the girls unresponsive.
Medical professionals performed CPR and other life-saving methods on one of the girls who was not breathing. She was later pronounced dead at UMass Memorial Medical Center. The other girl was listed in critical condition in intensive care as of Monday morning, according to the Worcester DA's office.
Public Safety Secretary Daniel Bennett, who stood with Baker, said the autopsy on the two-year-old has been completed, but he said investigators have come to "no conclusions of any kind" in the ongoing probe. He declined to say whether the autopsy showed evidence of illness, accident or foul play.
Baker acknowledged that he made improving the performance of DCF a priority during his campaign for governor last year after several high-profile incidents called into question management of the agency under former Gov. Deval Patrick. After the Patrick administration commissioned an independent investigation into the department by the Child Welfare League of America, Baker went on to hire Linda Spears from CWLA as his DCF commissioner.
"I think she's the right person for the job," Baker said Monday.
Baker said the foster mother, who was licensed in March 2014, has been cooperating with police, and Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders confirmed that a social worker from the Department of Children and Families visited the house just four days before the girl's death for what she described as a routine "well-visit."
Though Baker said the foster mother was as anxious as anyone to learn the cause of baby Avalena's death, he later cautioned not to read anything about the investigation into his statements.
While Sudders said it was right to question whether there might have been negligence on the part of the social worker or the department in the case, she said it was too early to draw any conclusions. The social workers assigned to the family remain employed and working, according to the secretary.
In May 2014 the Child Welfare League of America published its report taking a deep look at the Department of Children and Families and making a series of recommendations, including reducing the caseloads shouldered by individual social workers. Since December 2013 total caseload volume across the state has increased 30 percent.
Though the department has been undergoing "constant hiring," Sudders said caseloads have seen a "miniscule decrease" to about 20 per social worker, which is still higher than the recommended average. Approximately 47,000 children in Massachusetts are under DCF supervision.
Noting that DCF has seen its budget increase by $100 million, Baker said caseloads are still "not where we want to be," and promised to find additional financial resources for the department. "This is my highest priority, believe me," he said relative to fixing DCF.
SEIU Local 509 DCF Chapter President Peter MacKinnon said in a statement on Monday afternoon that "recent tragedies have hit all of us incredibly hard."
"Front-line social workers and investigators appreciate Governor Baker's personal pledge to make the critical investments we all know are needed to address the worsening caseload crisis at DCF, and we look forward to working with the Administration to institute long-overdue systemic reforms," MacKinnon said.
Six children lived in the Auburn home, including three foster children, one adopted child and two biological children. DCF limits the number of children who can live in a foster home to six, putting the Auburn home at the limit but within department guidelines.
The foster mother was the only adult listed with DCF as living in the house, according to the administration, despite published reports suggesting the mother's boyfriend sometimes stayed there. Department policy requires that anyone over the age of 15 living in a foster home submit to criminal and sex offender registry background checks, as well as fingerprinting.
Six other foster children have lived in the home previously since it was licensed in 2014, DCF said. A third foster child from the home – a six-month-old girl – was hospitalized as a precaution, while the other three children were in "good health," Sudders said.
Those children have been placed under DCF care pending the results of the investigation.
Baker also said he has pushed up the deadline for an internal report to be released publicly into another case from July when a 7-year-boy from Hardwick under DCF supervision slipped into a coma after suffering from abuse and starvation. Baker said that report will be released before the end of August, while he hopes an internal investigation into this most recent case will be completed by the end of September.
"The death of any child is a tragedy," said Baker, who added he attended the funeral of 20-year-old Angel Oller on Monday morning. The governor had previously met Oller, who was shot and killed in Roxbury earlier this month, through Robert Lewis Jr., founder and president of The BASE, an athletics and academics program.
Sudders said the administration has recently been made aware of dozens of 911 calls and police visits to the homes of the Auburn foster mother in the past, but said all of the calls came before she was licensed.
Baker said this case could provide an opportunity to review whether checks into past police activity at a home be reviewed as a condition of licensing to become a foster parent.
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