DCF Commissioner Dave Yacovone. VTDigger file photo
The Department for Children and Families is not to blame for the deaths of two children in its caseload that occurred less than two months apart, the DCF commissioner said Tuesday.
“The nature of this work is incredibly complex and despite our best work, sometimes tragic things happen,” DCF Commissioner David Yacovone said.
In addition to the February death of Poultney 2-year-old Dezirae Sheldon, the Burlington Free Press this week reported that a DCF caseworker visited a Winooski baby just an hour before the child died. Police last week ruled 1-year-old Peighton Geraw’s death a homicide, the Free Press reported.
No one has been charged in Peighton’s death, but the child’s mother, Nytosha LaForce, 28, and her boyfriend, Tyler Chicoine, 24, are being held in jail on unrelated violations, the Free Press reported.
Dezirae’s death made waves across the state and triggered four investigations: a state police criminal investigation, an internal DCF investigation, a citizen review panel investigation and a Senate panel that secured subpoena power to search for systemic problems within the department.
Yacovone said he could not talk about specifics of either case.
“This is sometimes generational stress and poverty that families are in where it’s like a toxic stew and when you add substance abuse to the poverty and other traumatic stress it becomes overwhelming to many families,” Yacovone said.
DCF is on pace to receive more than 17,000 reports of abuse or neglect this year and perform more than 5,000 investigations, he said.
“Sometimes no one’s to blame, sometimes horrible things happen,” Yacovone said.
The best way to prevent child abuse or neglect is to strengthen families, he said.
Dezirae Sheldon.
The Dezirae Sheldon incident prompted DCF to update its policy on investigating cases of serious physical abuse. More policy changes are expected, Yacovone said.
The new policy reiterates that reunifying children with parents is not always the best option in cases of serious physical abuse. It adds a new requirement that field workers consult with the central office when working on cases for children who have been victims of serious physical abuse.
“Always having a second set of eyes, multiple people making significant decisions, is one lesson learned,” Yacovone said.
There have been 44 substantiated cases of serious physical abuse in the past five years, including only one in many districts, according to DCF.
Sen. Peg Flory, R-Rutland, a member of the Senate panel, already has a list of DCF policies and practices she wants to explore, chief among them the department’s emphasis on confidentiality, which can sometimes hide shortcomings in the bureaucratic process.
“It may prevent (children) from a stigma but the cost may be too high,” Flory said.
The Winooski case only underscores the need to probe for ways to improve the system, she said.
“I don’t think it changes whether there’s one child’s death or two or 10, it deserves attention,” Flory said. “Is there something in our system that we could – and should – change to minimize the chance that anything like this will happen again?”
Another member of the panel, Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, said news of this second case means the panel will broaden its focus beyond what happened in Poultney.
“The major thing is the standard, which currently is the reunification (of the child with parents), and we hope to look at whether it should be ‘the best interest of the child,’” Sears said Tuesday.
Sears made it clear he does not know the specifics of either case.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Peter Shumlin said Tuesday that the citizen review panel has met and the governor will ask it to review the Winooski case as well.
“I am deeply troubled that DCF’s involvement did not help save Peighton from these terrible injuries,” Shumlin said in a statement.
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