Over the past month, I have spoken to ongoing caseworkers working on the front lines of the daily battle to keep Massachusetts’ most vulnerable children safe from neglect and abuse, foster parents currently doing their best to navigate the system and care for children removed from unsafe homes, biological parents who are currently or have been consumers of the system, and the children who have been stuck in the middle of it all. I’ve reviewed numerous documents, audits, reports and policies to take a look inside the inner workings of Massachusetts’ most controversial government agency. Through the countless hours of interviews and chats I have conducted one thing is abundantly clear – the blame lies not solely with the Department and its’ employees, nor does it fall squarely on the shoulders of consumers – it’s a complicating mess of parents who fail their children, and a state agency that continues to overreach.

I broke this down into a three part series to accurately and thoroughly reflect the answers I received from the workers, foster parents and families. To read the first part, what the ongoing caseworkers working for DCF had to say, click here.