Amendment #787 to H3800

DCF Legislative Reporting Reform

Representatives Khan of Newton, Blais of Sunderland, Farley-Bouvier of Pittsfield, González of Springfield, Hecht of Watertown, Honan of Boston, Linsky of Natick and Robinson of Framingham move to amend the bill in section 2, in item 4800-0015, by striking out in line 36 after the words “fair administrative hearing system;” the text contained in lines 36 – 145 ending with the words “their effectiveness;”

; and by adding the following 17 outside sections:

“SECTION XX. Section 6A of chapter 18B of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2016 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out the final paragraph.

SECTION XX. Section 7 of said chapter 18B of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out paragraph (e).

SECTION XX. Section 20 of said chapter 18B of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the second sentence.

SECTION XX. Section 23 of chapter 18B of the General Laws, as appearing in section 8 of chapter 321 of the acts of 2008, is hereby amended by striking out the final sentence.

SECTION XX. Section 23 of chapter 18B of the General Laws, as appearing in section 45 of chapter 176 of the acts of 2008, is hereby repealed.

SECTION XX. Section 24 of chapter 18B of the General Laws is hereby repealed.

SECTION XX. Section 25 of chapter 18B of the General Laws is hereby repealed.

SECTION XX. Chapter 18B of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 25 the following section: -

Section 26. (a) For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly requires otherwise: -

“Annual report”. A recurring legislatively-mandated report produced by the department of children and families that presents departmental information from a fiscal year, including analysis, data, and narratives, and comparative departmental information from prior fiscal years. An annual report is produced following the end of its subject fiscal year, to be presented to recipients and made available to the public electronically, in accordance with state public records law no later than October 31.

“Legislatively-mandated report”. A report required of the department of children and families by the general court.

“Quarterly profile”. A recurring legislatively-mandated report produced by the department of children and families that presents departmental data from a specific fiscal quarter statewide, by regional office, and by area office. A quarterly profile is made available to the public electronically, in accordance with state public records law no later than 75 days following the end of the subject fiscal quarter.

(b)(1) The department shall issue an annual report that provides an overview of the agency’s performance throughout the previous fiscal year. The commissioner or a designee of the commissioner shall present the annual report, with an invitation to discuss its contents, to the governor, the child advocate, the clerks of the house of representatives and senate, the chairs of the house and senate committees on ways and means, and the chairs of the joint committee on children, families and persons with disabilities.

(2) The report shall include, at a minimum, information on: (i) counts, including but not limited to: (A) case counts; (B) consumer counts; (C) reports filed pursuant to section 51A of chapter 119; (D) placement metrics; (E) infants brought into the department’s care pursuant to section 39½ of chapter 119; and (F) siblings in placement; (ii) processes and outcomes, including but not limited to: (A) safety outcomes; (B) permanency outcomes; (C) rates of adoptions by race and ethnicity; and (D) well-being outcomes, including the rates and timeliness of the delivery of medical services and high school graduation rates; and (iii) operations, including but not limited to: (A) staffing trends; (B) caseloads; (C) the department’s budget, including funding levels; (D) service costs; (E) medical services and advancements in providing medical services to the children and young adults in the department’s care; (F) amounts expended to foster care, adoptive, and guardianship families, to provide assistance, including financial assistance, to provide for the care of children; and (G) an analysis and evaluation of the foster care review system and any recommendations for its improvement.

(c)(1) For every fiscal quarter, the department shall issue a quarterly profile that reports, at a minimum: (i) consumer counts; (ii) counts of reports filed pursuant to section 51A of chapter 119, including counts of reports received, screened-in, and screened-out in the fiscal year; (iii) department case counts, including counts of clinical and adoption cases in the fiscal year; (iv) consumer demographic information, including race and primary language; (v) counts of children and youth in-placement; and (vi) counts of children and youth not in-placement.

(2) The commissioner or a designee of the commissioner shall notify the chairs of the house and senate committees on ways and means and chairs of the joint committee on children, families and persons with disabilities when data from a quarterly profile of a fiscal year significantly departs from trends reported in previous quarterly profiles.

(d) The commissioner or a designee of the commissioner shall notify the chairs of the joint committee on children, families and persons with disabilities when draft regulations are made available by the department for public comment. Within 30 days following promulgation of regulations and within 30 days of the effective date of adopted or revised departmental policies relative to services provided to children and families, the department shall provide the chairs of the joint committee on children, families and persons with disabilities with copies of promulgated regulations and departmental policies.

(e) If the department is unable to submit information requested under a legislatively-mandated report by the report’s deadline, the commissioner or the commissioner’s legal counsel shall, in writing, notify the report’s recipients and provide explanation for the delay.

(f)(i) The department, in consultation with the legislature and other governmental and nongovernmental partners, shall establish by March 31, 2021 and update by March 31 every year thereafter, a plan for the three full fiscal years that follow that sets numerical targets for its performance in each of those years in each of its regions in the areas of safety, permanence, and well-being; (ii) The plan shall include a discussion of how the department’s progress in achieving those numerical targets will be measured during the years that the plan covers. The plan may include different targets for different regions; (iii) Beginning in fiscal year 2022, no later than December 31 of each year, the department shall measure its performance in meeting the targets established in the plan for the state as a whole and for each of its regions, consistent with the methodology described in the plan; (iv) The department shall publish and prominently maintain on its website the current plan, the targets for previous years, and the department’s performance in meeting those targets; (v) If in any given fiscal year the department views its appropriations as insufficient to enable it to develop the plan described in subsection (i) or to measure its performance as described in subsection (iii), it shall notify the chairs of the house and senate committees on ways and means, the chairs of the joint committee on children, families, and persons with disabilities, the chief counsel of the committee for public counsel services, the executive director of the legal services organization that is participating in the data work group referenced in Section 2 below , and the executive director of Children’s League of Massachusetts, Inc. no later than September 1 of that fiscal year.

(g) A data work group shall convene every two years to make recommendations for improvements to the department’s legislatively mandated reports.  This workgroup shall be comprised of the following persons or their designees: the child advocate who shall serve as co-chair; the commissioner of children and families who shall serve as co-chair; the chairs of the house and senate committees on ways and means, the chairs of the joint committee on children, families and persons with disabilities; the executive director of a Massachusetts legal services program, the chief counsel of the committee for public counsel services; the executive director of Children’s League of Massachusetts, Inc.; 1 person with expertise in child welfare data and outcome measurement to be chosen by the child advocate; and 1 person with expertise in the department of children and families’ information technology, data collection and reporting systems to be chosen by the commissioner of children and families. The task force shall consult with other individuals with relevant expertise, including academics, researchers, and service providers, as needed.

This workgroup shall file its recommendations, together with drafts of legislation necessary to carry its recommendations into effect, with the clerks of the senate and house of representatives and the clerks shall forward the report to the chairs of the house and senate committees on ways and means and the chairs of the joint committee on children, families and persons with disabilities within 4 months of the date on which it convenes. Subsection (g) of this section shall take effect on February 1, 2022.

SECTION XX. Chapter 119 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out section 23, as appearing in the 2016 Official Edition, and inserting in place thereof the following section: -

Section 23. (a) The department shall have the responsibility, including financial responsibility, for providing foster care for children through its own resources or by use of appropriate voluntary agencies, according to the rules and regulations of the department, in the following instances:

(1) If a child, parent, guardian, or any person acting on behalf of a child, applies for foster care, the department may accept a child who, in the judgment of the department, is in need of foster care. Such acceptance shall entail no abrogation of parental rights or responsibilities, but the department may accept from parents a temporary delegation of certain rights and responsibilities necessary to provide the foster care for a period of time under conditions agreed upon by both and terminable by either. If the department determines that continued placement beyond 6 months is required for reasons unrelated to parental unfitness and the parent consents to continued placement, the department may file a petition for care and responsibility in the probate court on behalf of a child accepted into foster care. At the initial hearing on the petition, the court shall determine whether continued placement with the department is in the child's best interests and shall issue its determination, including its rationale, in written form. The allowance of the petition shall not abrogate a parent's right to make decisions on behalf of the child, but the department may accept from the parent a temporary delegation of certain rights and responsibilities necessary to continue to provide foster care for the child under conditions agreed upon by both and terminable by either. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, a permanency hearing shall be held within 60 days of the transfer of responsibility by order of the probate court or within 12 months of initial placement into foster care with the department, whichever date is later. The hearing shall be conducted as provided in section 29B.

(2) If a parent or parents apply for voluntary surrender of custody of a child for purposes of giving consent to adoption, the department may accept the child following the procedure described in clause (1).

(3) If a child is without proper guardianship due to death, unavailability, incapacity or unfitness of a parent or guardian or with the consent of a parent or parents, the department may seek, and shall accept, an order of the probate court granting responsibility for the child to the department. Such responsibility shall include the right to: (i) determine the child's abode, medical care and education; (ii) control visits to the child; (iii) consent to enlistments, marriages and other contracts requiring parental consent; and (iv) consent to adoption only when it is expressly included in an order of the court. In making an order, the probate court shall consider section 29C and shall make the written certification and determinations required by said section 29C. If a child is in the care of the department of mental health or the department of developmental services, the responsibility for the child as described in this section and all rights therein contained shall continue in the department. If a person with mental retardation who has been declared mentally incompetent was the responsibility of the department prior to reaching the age of 18, the department shall continue to exercise responsibility for that person until that person is declared to be no longer legally incompetent.

(4) The department shall accept on commitment from the juvenile court any child declared in need of foster care under section 26 or declared to be a child in need of services under section 39G.

(5) Any child who is left in any place and who is seemingly without a parent or legal guardian available shall be immediately reported to the department, which shall proceed to arrange care for that child temporarily and shall forthwith cause search to be made for that child's parent or guardian. If a parent or guardian cannot be located or is unable or refuses to make suitable provision for the child, the department shall make such lawful provision it deems in the best interest of that child as provided under this chapter.

(6) If the department has in its care a child whose parent or parents have consented to the child's adoption and the department has been unable to place that child in an adoptive home within 60 days of receipt of the consent, the department shall so notify all children's foster care agencies in the commonwealth licensed to place children for adoption. The notice shall request that each such agency attempt to find an adoptive home for such child. If 1 of the agencies locates an adoptive home for this child, the department shall cooperate with the agency in the placement of the child in this home and in the supervision of the placement during the 1 year waiting period. Any person in whose home a child has been placed by the department shall also be informed by the department if the child has become eligible for adoption, and this person may request consideration as a prospective adoptive parent.

(7) A temporary shelter care facility program or a group care facility, licensed under chapter 15D, may provide temporary shelter for a 72-hour period to a child without parental consent, if the child's welfare would be endangered if such shelter were not immediately provided. At the expiration of the 72-hour period, the licensee shall: (i) secure the consent of a parent or guardian to continued custody and care; (ii) refer the child to the department for custody and care; or (iii) refuse to provide continued care and custody to the child.

(b) The department shall develop guidelines and standards for the placement of children in foster care. The guidelines and standards shall be reviewed by the executive office of health and human services and the child advocate.

(c) Whenever the department places a child in foster care, the department shall immediately commence a search to locate any relative of the child or other adult person who has played a significant positive role in that child's life in order to determine whether the child may appropriately be placed with that relative or person if, in the judgment of the department, that placement would be in the best interest of the child.

The department shall also seek to identify any minor sibling or half-sibling of the child and attempt to place these children in the same foster family if, in the judgment of the department, that placement would be in the best interests of the children.

(d) The department may pay to a funeral establishment a sum not to exceed $1,100 for the funeral and final disposition of a child in its care if there are insufficient resources to pay for the cost of such funeral and final disposition. The commonwealth shall have the right of reimbursement from whatever resources may exist in the estate of the child.

(e) If a child is placed in or transferred to a foster home, a completed child profile form shall precede or accompany the child to the foster home. In the case of an emergency placement, the department, the department of youth services, the department of mental health, other departments of the commonwealth responsible for the placement of foster children, or a placement agency shall immediately provide a brief verbal or written statement describing the child's outstanding problem behaviors and mental and emotional problems and shall provide the child profile form within 10 days to the foster parents.

The department shall develop a child profile form to be used by all other departments of the commonwealth or placement agencies that shall contain the child profile and any other relevant information necessary to the care, well-being, protection and parenting of the child by the foster parents, including, but not be limited to: (i) a history of the child's previous placements and reasons for placement changes; (ii) a history of the child's problem behaviors and mental and emotional problems; (iii) educational status and school related problem behaviors; and (iv) any other necessary psychological, educational, medical or health information.

The child profile form shall immediately be prepared by the department of the commonwealth which is granted care and custody of the child at the time such care and custody is granted.

(f) The department shall offer to continue its responsibility to any young adult who is under the custody, care, or responsibility of the department including, but not limited to, those persons who meet any of the criteria set forth in 42 USC § 675(8)(B)(iv): (i) for the purposes of specific educational or rehabilitative programs, or (ii) to promote and support that person in fully developing and fulfilling that person's potential to be a participating citizen of the commonwealth under conditions agreed upon by both the department and that person. The department's continued responsibility for such persons is contingent upon the express written consent of the person or their guardian unless: (i) before reaching the age of 18, the person had an intellectual disability and was declared mentally incompetent under clause (3) of subsection (a) while under the responsibility of the department; or (ii) the person is under the responsibility of the department pursuant to section 5-305 of chapter 190B. The purposes and conditions of such responsibility may be reviewed and revised or terminated by either the person or the department; provided, however, that within 90 days before the termination of such responsibility, the department shall provide the person with assistance and support in developing a transition plan which fulfills the requirements of 42 USC § 675(5)(H). If after termination the person requests that the department renew its responsibility therefor, the department shall make every reasonable attempt to provide a program of support which is acceptable to the person and which permits the department to renew its responsibility; provided, however, that the department may require the person to meet 1 of the criteria set forth in 42 USC § 675(8)(B)(iv). If the department renews its responsibility, all other provisions of this subsection shall apply.

(g) The department shall obtain and provide to the IV-D agency, as set forth in chapter 119A, an assignment of support rights on behalf of each child receiving foster care maintenance payments under Title IV, Part E, of the Social Security Act. The department shall be subrogated to the rights of each such child and shall obtain and provide to the IV-D agency information that may be reasonably necessary to enforce the department's right including, but not limited to, the following information: the child's name, date of birth, place of birth, Social Security number, address and benefit level and, if known, each parent's name, date of birth, place of birth, Social Security number, most recent address and most recent employer. The department shall immediately notify the IV-D agency when a child whose rights to support are subrogated no longer receives foster care maintenance payments under said Title IV, Part E, of the Social Security Act.

(h) The department shall, subject to appropriation, provide assistance to foster care families which includes maintenance payments at the daily rate recommended and periodically adjusted by the United States Department of Agriculture. The department shall periodically review the level of assistance including maintenance payments provided to adoptive and guardianship families and may, subject to appropriation, and consistent with federal law and policy, adjust such assistance as warranted by the financial circumstances of the family, the needs of the child or the rate of inflation.

(i) The department, in consultation with the executive office of public safety and security, shall work with the department of state police and municipal police departments to ensure that adequate efforts are being made to identify and to provide for the immediate protection, care and custody of the minor children of a person arrested or placed in custody by police officers in the performance of their official duties.

SECTION XX. Section 39½ of chapter 119 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2016 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out the final paragraph.

SECTION XX. Section 51D of said chapter 119 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the final paragraph.

SECTION XX. Section 5E of chapter 210 of the General Laws is hereby repealed.

SECTION XX. Chapter 47 of the acts of 2017 is hereby amended by striking out section 128 and inserting in place thereof the following section: -

Section 128. There shall be a task force on child welfare data reporting. The task force shall develop basic data measures, progress measures and key outcome measures to inform the legislature and the public about the status and demographics of the caseload of the department of children and families, the department’s progress in achieving child welfare goals, including safety, permanency, and well-being.

The task force shall develop criteria for measuring outcomes for children and families in the key child welfare domains of safety, permanency, and well-being for children including, but not limited to, the outcomes relative to: (i) protecting children from abuse and neglect; (ii) safely maintaining children in their own homes whenever possible and appropriate; (iii) achieving stability and permanency for children in their living situations; (iv) preserving the continuity of family relationships; and (v) enhancing the capacity of families to provide for the needs of children (vi) ensuring that children receive appropriate services to meet their educational needs (vii) ensuring that children receive the services necessary to meet their physical and mental health needs (viii) achieving permanency and opportunity for young adults.

The task force shall make recommendations to: (i) ensure that department of children and families’ legislatively-mandated reports include data measures that are clearly defined and provided with adequate context to convey the meaning of reported data and the department’s understanding of the meaning of trends that may appear in data; (ii) eliminate legislatively-mandated reports that are no longer necessary; (iii) revise existing legislatively-mandated reports; and (iv) ensure that legislatively-mandated reports are timely-submitted and made available electronically in accordance with state public records law.

The task force shall also make recommendations relative to: (i) the continued development of the department’s annual report and quarterly profile under section 26 of chapter 18B of the General Laws; (ii) the resources required of the department to develop and produce legislatively-mandated reports; (iii) priorities for the department’s public reporting as it relates to addressing: (A) questions underlying legislative reporting requirements previously mandated of the department, including but not limited to requirements relative to foster care review, residential care, post-18 services, educational and placement stability, and kinship guardianship subsidies; (B) questions the department is currently unable to address with existing departmental data, including but not limited to families with multiple siblings in the department’s care; (C) questions concerning the department’s delivery of services, including but not limited to support and stabilization, and the effectiveness of such services; and (D) questions concerning the department’s outcomes, and the development of accurate benchmarks to measure those outcomes; and (E) racial disproportionality at decision points in the DCF process by area office; he task force shall be comprised of the following persons or their designees: the child advocate who shall serve as co-chair; the commissioner of children and families who shall serve as co-chair; the chairs of the house and senate committees on ways and means, the chairs of the joint committee on children, families and persons with disabilities; the executive director of a Massachusetts legal services program, the chief counsel of the committee for public counsel services; the executive director of Children’s League of Massachusetts, Inc.; 1 person with expertise in child welfare data and outcome measurement to be chosen by the child advocate; and 1 person with expertise in the department of children and families’ information technology, data collection and reporting systems to be chosen by the commissioner of children and families. The task force shall consult with other individuals with relevant expertise, including academics, researchers, and service providers, as needed.  Because other issues, including but not limited to substance use disorders, domestic violence, mental health, and homelessness, directly affect the child welfare caseload or outcomes but the data on these issues is not managed by the Department of Children and Families, the task force shall consult with the secretariats of the agencies which address these issues to determine how best to review and report on data these agencies may have that is relevant to child welfare outcomes affected by these issues.

The task force shall meet not less than quarterly. Annually, on or before January 31, the task force shall file its recommendations, together with drafts of legislation necessary to carry its recommendations into effect, with the clerks of the senate and house of representatives and the clerks shall forward the report to the chairs of the house and senate committees on ways and means and the chairs of the joint committee on children, families and persons with disabilities.

SECTION XA. The department shall annually submit a special report on services provided to young adults over the age of 18 to the child advocate, the clerks of the house of representatives and senate, the chairs of the house and senate committees on ways and means, and the chairs of the joint committee on children, families and persons with disabilities no later than October 31. The report shall summarize the process through which a young adult may continue to receive services from the department upon reaching the legal adult age of 18. The report shall also provide, but not be limited to: (a) departmental counts from the previous fiscal year, including counts of: (i) young adults who have elected to sustain a connection with the department; (ii) young adults who have elected to not remain with the department and have transitioned out of the child welfare system, including young adults who had previously elected to sustain a connection with the department, if such counts are available; and (iii) payments made in state funds to young adults; and (b) descriptions of services provided to young adults by the department in the previous fiscal year, including those funded or partially funded using federal funds. The department may satisfy the reporting requirements of this section by providing the requested information in an annual report filed under section 26 of chapter 18B of the General Laws.

SECTION XB. The department shall annually file a special report on its fair hearing processes and cases with the child advocate, the clerks of the house of representatives and senate, the chairs of the house and senate committees on ways and means, and the chairs of the joint committee on children, families and persons with disabilities, and be made available to the public electronically in accordance with G.L. c. 66 § 19 (the state public records law) no later than August 31. The report shall include but not be limited to information on the fair hearing requests open at any time during  the previous fiscal year and, using non-identifying information, provide for each hearing request: (i) the subject matter of the appeal; (ii)the outcomes of cases resolved prior to a fair hearing decision; (iii) the number of days between the hearing request and the first day of the hearing; (iv) the number of days between the close of the evidence and the hearing officer’s decision; (v) the number of days of continuance granted at the appellant’s request; (vi) the number of days of continuance granted at the request of the department of children and families or the hearing officer’s request, specifying which party made the request; and (vii) whether the department’s decision that was the subject of the appeal was affirmed or reversed. The department shall maintain and make available to the public, during regular business hours, a record of its fair hearings, with identifying information removed, including for each hearing request: the date of the request, the date of the hearing decision, and the decision rendered by the hearing officer and the final decision rendered upon the commissioner’s review. This report shall provide for the fair hearing requests which are pending for more than 180 days at any time during the fiscal year except for those requests which are stayed at the request of the district attorney, the number of those cases, how many of those cases have been heard but not decided and how many have been decided by the hearing officer but not yet issued as a final agency decision. If there are more than 225 fair hearing requests open for more than 180 days at the close of any month of the first six months of the fiscal year, then an additional report of these requests shall be provided no later than February 28. The department shall make redacted copies of fair hearing decisions available within 30 days of a written request.

SECTION Y. Sections XA and XB are hereby repealed.

SECTION Z. Section Y shall take effect on December 31, 2022."

Additional co-sponsor(s) added to Amendment #787 to H3800

DCF Legislative Reporting Reform