CONCORD – The Division of Children Youth and Families is failing to protect children from the risk of serious harm and continues to keep children in potentially abusive situations because of systemic problems, according to the full report released Monday by the Center for the Support of Families.

Jerry Milner, vice president for child welfare with the Center, presented the findings of a months-long review of New Hampshire’s DCYF on Monday after his organization was tasked with examining the state agency in the wake of the deaths of two children who were investigated multiple times by social workers.

The presentation was held in the Department of Health and Human Services offices in Concord. The report was not released in full until after the presentation.

Milner said while DCYF social workers generally did a good job getting children out of situations where they were in immediate danger, the agency’s employees were failing when it comes to keeping children out of homes with a real risk of future harm.

"We’re not talking about the risk of harm that’s on the mild side of the spectrum," Milner said.

The center reviewed more than 200 cases opened in 2015, as well as dozens of cases already open and ongoing throughout the same period. He said too many times, social workers failed to act when they came across situations where children were at risk of being hurt because those children were not in immediate danger at that time.

Milner said oftentimes these were cases where the abuse or neglect of the child was not in doubt and usually admitted to by the parent involved, but because of the way DCYF handles its cases, these reports stated the abuse or neglect was "unfounded."

"We saw a pattern of multiple reports on the same families very often alleging the same things," he said.

Milner said another problem the report found is DCYF social workers are not getting assessment reports done within the agency’s own mandated 60-day time limit. In some cases, social workers told the reviews this was done to keep cases open so they could keep tabs on the family and make more visits to check on the children. Milner said those additional checks were not actually happening.

The division is dealing with significant staffing shortages and the social workers have caseloads that Milner said were unreasonable. Additionally, these social workers are dealing with sometimes extreme life and death decisions, leading to stress and other problems.

"In many situations, we have traumatized staff trying to deal with traumatized children and traumatized families," he said.

The report was commissioned by the state after two toddlers were murdered. Nashua’s Brielle E. Gage was three years old in 2014 when her mother, Katlyn Marin, beat her to death. Marin, now serving a 45-year-to-life prison sentence for second degree murder, had been the subject of at least 10 DCYF investigations, including allegedly breaking Brielle’s leg just months before her death.

Sadie Willott was 21-months old in 2015 when her mother, Katlin Paquette, of Manchester, allegedly beat her during a bath and left the child with fatal injuries. Paquette’s case has not yet gone to trial. Like Marin, Paquette had been investigated by DCYF before her child died.

Milner’s review does not touch on the Brielle Gage or Sadie Willott cases, but instead looks at DCYF as a whole and tries to determine if it was set up to properly safeguard children. Milner would not say if the agency is able to protect children given its structure, but he conceded there were opportunities to improve when it comes to protecting children in life or death situations.

Rus Rilee, the attorney representing the estates of both Brielle Gage and Sadie Willott, as well as the adoptive family of two girls who were repeatedly sexually assaulted while in DCYF care, said the report confirms his assertions that the agency is not doing its job. Rilee noted the report has been available for a week, but has not been made public until after Monday’s presentation.

"The presentation, it appears that it confirms what has been alleged in our first ongoing lawsuit, that there has been a failure in supervision, a failure in training, and a failure of the department to follow its own policies, rules and procedures," Rilee said.

Milner’s report is calling for 20 steps the division should take, including adding staff, supervisors and dedicated trainers to make sure the workforce is prepared to deal with the cases it will see. None of the recommendations, however, will come cheap, Milner said.

"If you want to hold DCYF accountable … you’re going to have to invest and set the stage for accountability," Milner said.

Nashua police officers in attendance, Lt. Kerry Baxter and Capt. David Bailey, were tentatively happy with what they heard.

"I think it brings to light a lot of concerns that we as an agency had," Baxter said. "We’re hoping with that report changes can get implemented … so that we can prevent more child homicides."

Bailey said that what matters is what happens next.

"A report’s just a report," he said. "They have to implement what the recommendations are. If they don’t implement the recommendations then it’s all for nothing, it’s just a waste of time."

So far, the agency is working to implement off-hour coverage so social workers are available in the evenings and on weekends to deal with reports that may come in, as has been recommended by the report, and by police. Jeffrey Meyers, commissioner for the Department of Health and Human Services which oversees DCYF, said the report’s recommendations represents an important task for the future of the agency.

"The recommendations in this review are comprehensive and it is evident that a great deal of work must be done to address them," Meyers said.

Outgoing Gov. Maggie Hassan, in a statement released Monday afternoon, said the report shows DCYF needs to refocus its efforts toward keeping children safe, rather than looking first to reunify families.

"The review makes clear that while the goal of reunifying families is critical, it cannot come at the expense of a child’s safety," she said.

The full report is now available at DHHS website, at www.dhhs.nh.gov.

Damien Fisher can be reached at 594-1245 or dfisher@nashuatelegraph.com.