Patrick: Child deaths 'intolerable'; No confidence left in DCF.

Byline: John J. Monahan

BOSTON -- Gov. Deval L. Patrick said Monday his confidence in the state Department of Children and Families has been "rattled'' over recent deaths of infants in their care from Grafton and Fitchburg, while House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo and Senate President Therese Murray called for the governor to immediately replace DCF Commissioner Olga I. Roche.

"My own frustration and upset is with this whole situation and the fact that it is intolerable to continue to lose these poor, dear children,'' the governor said of the new reports that follow months of turmoil over DCF failure to protect children in the department's care.

"I don't have confidence at this point in the agency, and I am very worried about the agency,'' Mr. Patrick said Monday in his first public comments on recent infant deaths.

While the governor said he is not yet ready to remove Ms. Roche from her position, he said he is waiting for her to respond to a number of questions arising from the April 11 death of 1-month-old Aliana Lavigne of Grafton.

DCF workers reportedly failed to respond for six days to a Grafton police abuse report faxed to the agency concerning the infant. More recently, the state has launched an investigation into reports that a 2-week-old Fitchburg baby being overseen by DCF social workers died Saturday.

Mr. DeLeo, D-Winthrop, called for immediate action to bring new management into DCF, asking Mr. Patrick to remove Ms. Roche.

He said the state should not wait for a new administration to take office next January under a new governor, and that Mr. Patrick should act now to bring in new management.

Mr. Patrick said he will soon make some decisions on leadership at the agency and criticized the lapses in the Grafton case. While DCF officials reportedly complained that police should have called them and not just sent in a fax to report the abuse, the governor was upset with both sides.

"What the law requires is the way to assure that 51As (abuse and neglect reports) get an immediate response is to talk to someone when you make the report. Not drop one a piece of paper and send it over on a fax,'' Mr. Patrick said. "But when a fax is sent, it ought to be read. The notion that we need new policies for something as basic as that is as frustrating for me as it is to the general public.''

Mr. Patrick said there is still conflicting information about the Grafton case, including whether DCF had begun an investigation before the infant died.

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