Collateral Damage: The DCF Chronicles

DCF Chronicles, Investigations, Child Fatalities and Near-Fatalities, Case Dossiers, Oversight and Accountability, Policy Failures, Contracted Provider Failures, Foster Care and Cause Closure Failures, Screening and Case Closure Failures, Legislative Watch, Court and Records Watch, Survivor Testimony, Systemic Issues Map, Calls to Action Paul Brown DCF Chronicles, Investigations, Child Fatalities and Near-Fatalities, Case Dossiers, Oversight and Accountability, Policy Failures, Contracted Provider Failures, Foster Care and Cause Closure Failures, Screening and Case Closure Failures, Legislative Watch, Court and Records Watch, Survivor Testimony, Systemic Issues Map, Calls to Action Paul Brown

DCF's Rotten Core: How Massachusetts Keeps Killing Kids Through Neglect and Incompetence

Massachusetts DCF keeps calling child deaths “isolated tragedies,” but the public record shows a repeat pattern of warnings ignored, cases closed without proof of safety, and protocols that protect paperwork instead of children. This is not a few bad apples, it is a rotten core.

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DCF Chronicles, Massachusetts DCF, Child Deaths, Intact Family Cases Paul Brown DCF Chronicles, Massachusetts DCF, Child Deaths, Intact Family Cases Paul Brown

She Was Already Dying When DCF Walked Away: How Massachusetts Abandoned A’zella Ortiz And Pretended It Could Not See

A’zella Ortiz was four years old, starving, bruised, and unseen when Massachusetts DCF closed her “intact family” case after 114 days without laying eyes on her or her siblings. Less than a year later she was dead on a hospital gurney and her brother and sister were found broken beside her. This article exposes how a system that calls itself child protection chose paperwork, denial, and closure over keeping three children alive.

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DCF Chronicles, Child Welfare, Systemic Failures, Investigations Paul Brown DCF Chronicles, Child Welfare, Systemic Failures, Investigations Paul Brown

Tragedy in Texas: How CPS Failures Led to the Death of Nayeli Perez

Sixteen-year-old Nayeli Perez was supposed to be safe. Instead, she was hidden away, starved, and beaten until her body gave out. Found weighing just 78 pounds, with injuries that told the story of months of torment, her death exposes a child welfare system in Texas that failed to see, failed to act, and failed to protect. This is not just the story of one girl, but of a broken system that allowed her to disappear in plain sight.

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