Legislature asks: Is DCF doing enough?
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By Jesse Roman
The Shaun Bryer sexual assault case has raised concerns about whether the state government is doing enough to protect Vermont children.Bryer, a Morristown schoolteacher, faces 17 charges, alleging he abused two boys over a period of years. Worried school officials alerted the Vermont Department for Children and Families, but the agency decided not to investigate.
Last year, on an average day, the Department for Children and Families fielded 38 reports of child abuse. Of those, only eight were actually investigated, and fewer than two were substantiated.
Overall, in more than 95 percent of reports made to the agency last year — reports from school officials, doctors, social workers, police and citizens — no evidence of actual abuse was found.
Not every abuse call is legitimate. Some people lie or exaggerate; some people have grudges or are overly suspicious.
But why did the department investigate only 20 percent of the 13,400 calls it received last year, and why were only 5 percent substantiated?
“What I am surprised about is the number of cases (the department) doesn’t even bother looking at. I would have thought (the Bryer report) would have been a red flag,” said state Sen. Richard Sears, D-Bennington, who was instrumental in the Vermont Legislature’s move last year to pass tougher sex-crime laws and improve the sex-offender registry.
The number of child victims of neglect and abuse has dropped a staggering 40 percent since 2002, the agency says, though reports of suspected abuse have risen.
According to information compiled by Prevent Child Abuse Vermont, 811 Vermont children were sexually abused in 1992. In 2008, there were only 292 cases of sexual abuse on children in Vermont, a 64 percent drop over 16 years.
Optimists say prevention and education programs have worked wonders, but others say the numbers raise serious questions about whether the department should be applauded, or bolstered.
Are children really being abused less often, or is the department just not investigating as often or as thoroughly as it once did?
The Bryer case, which was tossed in the not-enough-evidence pile, reinforces the suspicions.
Lamoille South Superintendent Tracy Wrend reported Bryer to the Department for Children and Families last November, citing his inappropriate behavior with two students.
The department set the case aside without contacting the children’s parents, the school, or Bryer, nor did it make any attempt to talk with the kids themselves.
Later, it came out that Bryer had allegedly been molesting the two boys over several years at his Morrisville apartment. He faces 15 felony counts of sexual abuse, plus two misdemeanors, and could spend the rest of his life behind bars.
How many other reports of suspected abuse did the department miss?
Money worries
In 2007, the federal government evaluated DCF’s performance.
It said the department needed to react faster in investigating reports of child abuse, to improve its services for families, and to improve protection of children.
The evaluation also raised concerns about a heavy workload on the agency’s employees.
Overall, the agency needed to do better in 27 of the 45 categories examined, the federal report said.
One involved “the state’s criteria for accepting and substantiating reports of abuse and neglect.”
Agency employees, parents and other people with a stake in the outcome told the federal government that “criteria for accepting and substantiating reports, when the incidences involve child neglect or domestic violence, are not well understood in the community. … Stakeholders suggested that the existing criteria can result in some children being left at risk of harm.”
The report also found fault with heavy caseloads, and lack of training for employees.
The federal report “said we needed to beef up the number of support staff,” said state Sen. Susan Bartlett, D-Lamoille, a candidate for governor and chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Since then, though, state budget cuts have wounded the agency.
In an interview last week, DCF Commissioner Steve Dale said budget cuts “have nothing to do with” his department’s handling of the Bryer case.
He also said his department has not been compromised by the budget cuts.
Bartlett says otherwise.
“I find it hard to believe that a reduction in state government does not have an impact on state government,” Bartlett said. “Here in Lamoille County, we don’t even have a full-time (DCF) regional director anymore. Whoever is in charge of that office also has a full caseload. You can’t tell me that’s good for state services.
“I heard Commissioner Dale say there was no impact, but I think it’s impossible to say there has been no impact, considering the downsizing we’ve been doing.”
Last year, the Department for Children and Families’ budget was just a hair under $300 million, according to Jim Giffin, the chief financial officer of the Agency of Human Services. However, legislators slashed $4 million from the department during rescissions last year to deal with budget shortfalls.
In fiscal year 2010, the Legislature budgeted $338.9 million for the department — bolstered in large part by $26.5 million from the federal stimulus bill, Giffin said. Since then, $4.5 million has been rescinded from the budget, however, it’s still nearly a $40 million more in funds than the department received last year, Giffin said.
Recent improvements
The department should be applauded for its efforts, says Linda Johnson, executive director of Prevent Child Abuse Vermont — a nonprofit dedicated to preventing child abuse and neglect; she’s also on the DCF advisory board.
“I believe Steve Dale and his crew are doing everything in their power to protect children,” Johnson said.
The department has made vast improvements in the past year, she said, despite dwindling funding.
For instance, it has centralized its operations. Abuse reports used to stream into 12 different offices; now they all come to one location, staffed by six social workers.
In the year since centralization, the number of calls accepted for investigation has increased 40 percent, Dale said, and the department’s handling of cases has become more consistent statewide.
This summer, the department also began giving more attention to families reported for abuse, but where abuse could not be substantiated. Now, if an investigation turns up no abuse, the social worker won’t simply go away; instead, the worker will try to enroll the family in programs that can help improve the situation.
“Instead of just walking out the door, they work to engage families in getting meaningful help in order to redirect what could be an awful outcome three months later,” Johnson said.
Despite those successes, Johnson and other child advocates admit deep concerns about budget cuts in recent years.
“They have lost over 100 positions; it’s very disturbing. More cuts could really endanger children,” Johnson warned.
But, so far, “they have been able to continue to support the front lines.”
Bartlett says she has talked with Dale and thinks meaningful procedural changes could benefit the department. There may not even be any need for new legislation.
“How do we set up better procedure? Better screening? I think that’s what it comes down to with DCF,” Bartlett says. “I think we need better protocols so if a teacher or superintendent or district has concerns, but can’t pinpoint it, what are the other things they can do, what authority do they have to do something like call parents? …
“Those professionals spend their whole lives dealing with children and families and I think we should allow them … to get and supply more information to DCF — and if they do that, DCF should check those calls out immediately.”
The facts
Vermont had 292 child sexual-abuse cases in 2008, far below the peak of 811 cases in 1992.
Although the percentage of child sexual-abuse offenders under age 20 remained constant (43 percent), the overall number of offenders dropped 31 percent from 1990 to 2003.
Number of sexually abused children
1990..... 768
1992..... 811
2007..... 322
2008..... 292
Child victims of abuse/neglect
2000..... 1,104
2001..... 1,061
2002..... 1,263
2003..... 967
2004..... 1,048
2005..... 942
2006..... 866
2007..... 757
2008..... 737*
*Number of victims has dropped 41.6 percent since 2002.
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