×
×
homepage logo
LOGIN
SUBSCRIBE

Culture change needed at DCYF

By Staff | Jan 6, 2016

The public wouldn’t stand for it if New Hampshire State Police only responded to calls between the weekday hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

They would be outraged, and justifiably so, since the need for public safety services may be highest during those hours that are not considered part of "regular business hours."

Yet, it is somehow accepted as business as usual that the Division of Children, Youth and Families – the state agency charged with watching over some of the state’s most at-risk children and families – doesn’t operate at night or on weekends, when that risk may be highest.

That’s unacceptable and needs to change, and those whose job it is to craft policy for the state shouldn’t allow money be used as an excuse for maintaining the status quo.

"On weekends, there is nobody around," state Sen. David Boutin said. "This is something that we think is really important and needs to be done. The department has worked up a proposal and we expect to hear that early in January."

Boutin, R-Hooksett, chairs a special commission that was created to investigate child fatalities in the state following the death of 3-year-old Brielle Gage of Nashua in November 2014.

Commissioners concluded that having 24-hour operations would require a significant increase in funding, a reorganization of existing resources, or potentially both.

Not surprisingly, DCYF wants more money, which is an entirely predictable response.

"It would be a workforce drain to ask those same staff to take on working at night and on weekends," said DCYF administrator Lorraine Bartlett. "But I’m working with my bureau chief for child protection and juvenile justice services to put together what we believe would be a viable plan."

For that kind of money, DCYF should be flexible enough to schedule people when they are most needed by the constituencies they serve – children and families. The state budget for Child Protection Services in fiscal year 2015 is $24.4 million, of which more than $22 million is salaries and benefits, according to the state website TransparentNH.gov. Add to that the budget for family services, and taxpayers are paying upward of $40 million for those agencies.

DCYF should be able to shake loose some people to cover the state on a 24-hour basis.

The first thing it would require is a change in the DCYF culture. That’s something that should probably happen anyway, given the multiple child fatalities that have happened in the state over the past year or so, including at least two that were directly under DCYF’s supervision.

As luck would have it, this is a good time for change to happen, what with a new Health and Human Services commissioner coming on board.

The first thing we noticed when Gov. Maggie Hassan put forth the name of a candidate to run HHS is that she picked an insider. Jeffrey A. Meyers, an attorney, was most recently director of intergovernmental affairs for HHS.

That doesn’t mean he can’t or won’t change the culture, but we hope it doesn’t mean it’s less likely.

Meyers has been approved by the New Hampshire Executive Council as the new interim director of HHS, and councilors will ultimately be asked to make that appointment permanent. As part of the vetting process, they should ask tough questions about any cultural changes the nominee believes are necessary at the state’s largest agency, starting with the division that has – on too many occasions – failed to protect the children in its care.

Newsletter

Join thousands already receiving our daily newsletter.

Interests
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *