Massachusetts DCF Audit Exposes Deepening Crisis of Neglect
The release of the Massachusetts state audit on November 7, 2024, should have been a turning point. Instead, it reads like a tragic continuation of what families, advocates, and investigators have been saying for decades. The Department of Children and Families once again stands accused of neglecting its most basic obligations, failing to monitor services, ignoring key regulations, and leaving children at risk. This is not a new revelation. It is confirmation that the state’s child protection agency has learned little from a long trail of broken promises and lost lives.
Auditors found that DCF repeatedly failed to ensure children received the medical care, educational supports, and services required by law. Basic compliance checks were missed. Documentation was incomplete. Oversight was sloppy. In some cases, there was no evidence that children received services at all, even when those services were court-ordered or central to a child’s well-being. The findings make clear that these are not isolated oversights. They reflect a pattern of systemic neglect inside the very agency charged with keeping children safe.
The audit also revealed that DCF lacks reliable data to track outcomes for children. Without this information, the state cannot even measure whether its programs work, let alone correct failures. The agency has been warned before about its poor recordkeeping. Yet year after year, children’s needs are reduced to case numbers and inconsistent files that fail to reflect reality. The absence of meaningful data is not simply a bureaucratic glitch. It is a shield that allows negligence to continue in the dark.
This November 2024 audit echoes prior warnings. A 2017 report by Auditor Suzanne Bump found that DCF failed to properly track more than 260 cases of serious bodily harm to children in its custody. Sexual abuse was not even classified as a critical incident. The question must be asked: if seven years ago auditors exposed the same flaws, why are we still here? The answer lies in an agency culture that has long chosen self-preservation over transparency.
The report’s publication comes against the backdrop of Massachusetts’ long history of child welfare tragedies. The case of Jeremiah Oliver in 2013, who vanished under DCF supervision and was later found dead, shocked the state. So did the death of 14-year-old David Almond in 2020, emaciated and abused after being returned to his father’s care under DCF’s watch. These cases were supposed to spark reform. Instead, they became grim markers in a cycle that repeats with sickening predictability.
What the November 2024 audit proves is that the failures identified in those tragedies were not aberrations. They were symptoms of systemic rot. When DCF does not track whether children are receiving critical services, it is no different than leaving a child without food or medical care. The neglect is bureaucratic in form but human in impact. The state’s most vulnerable children pay the price for DCF’s indifference.
Governor Maura Healey’s administration has acknowledged the audit’s findings, but words of acknowledgment are not enough. Past governors also pledged reform after audits, reports, and deaths. Charlie Baker promised systemic fixes. Deval Patrick called for accountability after Jeremiah Oliver’s death. Yet the agency’s record shows that reforms fade as soon as headlines quiet down. The November 2024 audit warns us that without enforcement and independent oversight, DCF will remain broken.
Families living under DCF’s gaze know the cost of these failures. Many parents report being kept in the dark about their children’s injuries in foster care or being denied a fair process to contest neglect allegations. In 2023, a Suffolk County judge ruled that DCF violated parents’ constitutional rights by denying them hearings to challenge “substantiated concerns.” This was not an isolated issue. It was part of a broader culture where rules are bent to suit the agency, not the families or children it serves.
The audit also highlights how neglect inside DCF is compounded by secrecy. The agency’s internal child fatality review teams have long been described as inactive or dysfunctional. A Globe investigation found that mandated reviews of child deaths were often not performed. When they were, results were hidden from public scrutiny. Without transparency, the state cannot learn from its mistakes. And as this audit shows, those mistakes are happening on a massive scale.
One of the most alarming findings is DCF’s failure to ensure compliance with court orders. When judges mandate services or protections for children, DCF is legally bound to follow through. Yet the audit documents instances where this did not happen. That is not merely negligence. It is a violation of law. When the state’s own agency ignores court orders, it sets a dangerous precedent that children’s rights are optional.
Critics have long said that Massachusetts’ child welfare system is among the most secretive and least accountable in the nation. This audit confirms it. Without independent watchdogs, the agency has little incentive to change. Qualified immunity shields caseworkers and supervisors from personal accountability. Confidentiality laws keep proceedings locked away from public scrutiny. And children continue to suffer in silence.
The November 2024 audit also underscores the impact of chronic understaffing and high caseloads. Social workers were found to be juggling more cases than they could reasonably manage, which directly contributed to missed visits and unmonitored children. Yet this is not an excuse. It is a failure of leadership. DCF has known about the risks of overloaded caseloads for decades. Still, little has been done to protect children from the consequences of an overburdened workforce.
It is critical to recognize that these findings mirror national concerns. In nearly every state, audits of child welfare agencies uncover similar problems: inadequate oversight, missing records, ignored warnings. But Massachusetts stands out because it has faced some of the most publicized child deaths in the country, and still the same mistakes recur. The November 2024 audit is another reminder that the cycle of scandal and reform has become routine.
For survivors of abuse and neglect, the audit is not just a report. It is confirmation of what they have lived. Many of them spoke up as children and were ignored. Others were lost entirely. Their suffering becomes numbers in a document, while the system that failed them continues to operate as if accountability is optional. That is why this audit must not be shelved alongside the many others before it.
The real question is what happens next. Will lawmakers demand immediate reforms and enforce them? Or will the state fall back into the familiar pattern of promises, pilot programs, and delayed change? Advocates are already calling for independent oversight, saying the agency cannot be trusted to police itself. History suggests they are right.
The findings also demand that Massachusetts confront its culture of secrecy. Families and the public deserve access to information about how DCF operates, especially when children’s lives are at stake. Without transparency, neglect festers. Without accountability, mistakes repeat. And without reform, children die. The audit shows that the agency is failing to meet even the most basic standards of compliance.
For too long, DCF has been allowed to define success on its own terms. But the November 2024 audit reveals what that success really looks like: services missed, laws ignored, children endangered. If this were a private organization, it would be shut down. Instead, it continues to operate unchecked, backed by taxpayer dollars and shielded from consequences.
Massachusetts has been here before. Another damning report. Another round of promises. Another chance for real change that may or may not come. But this audit is too stark to ignore. It confirms that the same systemic issues that killed Jeremiah Oliver and David Almond remain alive inside the system today.
Children cannot wait for DCF to fix itself. They need oversight, accountability, and transparency now. The November 2024 audit should be the catalyst. If lawmakers and officials fail to act, they will share responsibility for the next preventable tragedy. The evidence is there. The failures are documented. The question is whether Massachusetts will finally face the truth about its child welfare system.
