There’s no set timetable for when the other guy’s problems become your baggage but one thing is certain: Gov. Charlie Baker now owns the mess that is the Department of Children and Families and finger-pointing at the administration that left eight months ago isn’t going to cut it.
The latest problems for the beleaguered DCF come as two foster children were removed from a home in Auburn over the weekend after police responded to a “breathing problem. A two-year-old girl died and a 22-month-old child is in critical condition. According to reports, police had been called to the homes of the foster mother more than 60 times since 2004, but DCF officials say they were unaware of those incidents.
The Auburn case comes in the wake of a 7-year-old Hardwick boy who fell into a coma last month after his father, who was awarded custody despite a history of violence and mental illness, allegedly beat and starved him and forced him to clean floors with bleach, inhaling the toxic fumes. Social workers from DCF had been monitoring that situation since February and had visited the child two weeks before he went into the coma, but did not remove him despite the boy’s scrawny appearance from being malnourished.
At a press conference Monday, Baker, who during his campaign last year highlighted previous tragedies under then governor Deval Patrick and accused him of mismanagement, decried the situations and vowed to increase funding for the agency, hire more social workers, and investigate how the two incidents could have gotten to this point. He said it will be “all hands on deck” until he rights the listing child protection ship.
“I’m not going to be satisfied until we get to the point where this sort of thing doesn’t happen. Period,” said Baker. “This has my highest priority.”
Given his focus on it during the campaign, including a rough ad from supporters against Martha Coakley that he refused to disavow, one has to wonder why it’s a priority in August but wasn’t a priority in January. Back then, Baker hired national child advocate Linda Spears, who reviewed DCF for the Patrick administration and wrote a scathing report with recommendations to overhaul the agency.
In March, Spears acknowledged the 3 percent increase in funding from Baker did little more than maintain the current workforce at DCF, which her report said was already overwhelmed with cases. There was no money for any of her other recommendations, such as hiring pediatric nurses for every office.
But the Globe‘s Joan Vennochi writes that tragedy transcends political and ideological boundaries. She points out that for all his campaign rhetoric, Baker is learning the uncomfortable truth about social welfare agencies.
“Children will suffer and some will die, no matter who’s in charge of protecting them,” she writes. “A better-managed system can do a better job of monitoring a child’s safety after such decisions are made. But it can’t eliminate all the risk that goes with them.”
Baker’s job is going to get harder. The head of the state’s Office of the Child Advocate, the watchdog for DCF, announced she is stepping down in September. The governor’s allies on Beacon Hill and in the media are taking him to task for looking too much like Patrick in dealing with the tragedies.
“Baker’s response is not just underwhelming – he appears to have embraced former Gov. Deval Patrick’s DCF playbook of delay and downplay,” writes the Herald‘s Hillary Chabot, who covered the State House for the paper during Patrick’s tenure.
In her interview with the Globe shortly after she took over, Spears, the DCF chief, said there is definitely a different vantage point on the inside looking in.
“Writing a report is a whole different thing from trying to get it done,” she said in a prescient observation. “It’s a lot easier to tell than do.”
JACK SULLIVAN
BEACON HILL
Gov. Charlie Baker defers to local leaders in a veto threat over immigration bills. (State House News Service)
OLYMPICS
The Brattle report, released Tuesday morning, shows “real risks” of Boston’s failed Olympic bid, officials say. (Boston Globe)
The Los Angeles Times editorial board asks the question, “Can L.A. can afford the Olympics.” (L.A. Times)
CASINOS
Plainridge Park Casino reported more than $18 million in gambling revenue in its first month of operation, putting it on pace to exceed the $200 million in annual revenues it had initially estimated. (Boston Herald)
WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL
CommonWealth‘s Gabrielle Gurley has a sit-down with former congressman Barney Frank, who shows he’s lost none of his renowned willingness to be frank.
ELECTIONS
GOP presidential contender Carly Fiorina says to judge her on her business track record, especially as CEO at Hewlett-Packard, so the New York Times DealBook does — and the review is not so glowing.
The conservative American Spectator picks apart Donald Trump‘s plan to deal with illegal immigrants, calling the proposal “shameful” and “xenophobic.”
When people go to the polls this November, just a few states will vote on ballot measures regarding taxes. Major issues include marijuana, gas and how a legislature can increase taxes in the future. (Governing)
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
The American Red Cross sought congressional help to end an investigation by the Government Accountability Office into the nonprofit organization’s disaster relief work and spending. (ProPublica)
Despite more than two-thirds of the nation’s products being moved by trucks and predictions for the volume to increase, there is a shortage of drivers as younger generations focus on technology rather than getting behind a wheel. (U.S. News & World Report)
EDUCATION
A Sunday Globe editorial follows this recent CommonWealth piece in describing the underappreciated role Sen. Elizabeth Warren is playing in carrying the Ted Kennedy torch in the current reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind law. Warren is fighting to preserve part of the law making districts accountable for addressing low-performing schools, an issue national civil rights groups have said is crucial.
A new study by the Federal Reserve bank finds the benefits of a college education have never been higher. (U.S. News & World Report)
HEALTH CARE
A number of Republican-controlled states are not waiting around for Congress to act, taking it upon themselves to defund Planned Parenthood clinics operating in their states in the wake of a controversial clandestine video taken by conservative activists. (New York Times)
The University of Massachusetts Medical School is the latest target of anti-abortion activists pursuing the Planned Parenthood over its handling of fetal tissue. (Telegram & Gazette)
TRANSPORTATION
Traffic deaths on Massachusetts roads were up slightly in the first six months over last year but increased more than 20 percent over the same period in 2013. (Patriot Ledger)
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
Must-see video: Researchers film a seal leaping out of the water with a great white shark on its tail off of Chatham. (Cape Cod Times)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Mayor Marty Walsh and Boston clergy discuss gun violence. (Boston Globe)
Attorney General Maura Healey is seeking tougher penalties for possession and sale of the narcotic painkiller fentanyl, which is used as an additive for heroin and has been linked to the increase in overdose deaths. (Patriot Ledger)
Prosecutors in the Aaron Hernandez murder case say a woman who claimed juror misconduct is lying because she has a relationship with Hernandez that she wants to retain should the convicted killer be released. (Herald News)
A Berkley woman who hit the Lottery for $1 million and then pled guilty to stealing from her cancer-stricken brother has been jailed for violating her probation. (The Enterprise)
MEDIA
Longtime CNN correspondent Dana Bash has been promoted to Chief Political Correspondent, one of the most coveted editorial positions at the cable news network. (Politico)
Real-time boom of live streaming opens the world to media as a service. (Forbes)
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