NECIR Senior Reporter Jenifer McKim (@jbmckim) and DCF Chapter President for the Massachusetts Human Service Workers Union Peter MacKinnon talk changes to the DCF.
Big changes are coming to the Mass. Department of Children and families. Governor Charlie Baker announced this morning, the state will be updating decades old policies, with one goal in mind.
The governor outlined a series of changes, including a new intake policy which will give social workers standardized risk assessment tools, require criminal background checks in all DCF cases, review the entire household’s past involvement with DCF, review past 911 calls and perform a parental capacity assessment.
There will also be a new supervisor policy aimed at making sure cases are properly reviewed. So-called “complex cases” will be examined by regional directors and they’re going to focus on ways to recruit and retain more social workers so that average caseloads are lower.
In addition to all these steps, DCF plans to reopen its Central Mass office and look at ways to reduce the backlog of foster home applicants.
In short, there’s a lot of change coming over the next few months. But is it enough?
