How Could You? Hall of Shame-Massachusetts DCF

“I think it’s just an absolute disgrace. We’ve let these children down. DCF has really dropped the ball,” said the former foster mother, who last year adopted the youngest child — an autistic toddler she has cared for since birth.

The three oldest children — now ages 12, 11 and 8 — told investigators with the Department of Children and Families, therapists and social workers about allegations against the parents of rape, molestation and being “taught” sexual acts they performed on each other and the parents, physical beatings, and a lack of food in the home, according to reports by DCF and a DCF contractor that were obtained by the Herald.

“Given the reports of the other two children that they were all engaged at times in sexual behaviors together and that at times (the) father was present, allegations of sexual abuse will be added and supported,” states a contractor’s adoption assessment quoting a DCF investigative report from Aug. 5, 2011. “(A daughter) reports touching her mother sexually and her siblings and this issue was not addressed by the parents. In fact they deny that this occurred.”

DCF documents show agency investigators supported neglect allegations against both parents, sexual abuse allegations against the father and physical abuse allegations against the mother.

But less than seven weeks after the findings, DCF drew up a plan for the mother and father to have monthly supervised visits with the three children they are accused of abusing as well as their then-newborn baby girl, according to a DCF service plan dated Sept. 21, 2011.

The two youngest children were adopted last year by new families who told the Herald that DCF pushed for open adoptions to give the birth parents visitation rights. The birth parents have not complied with court-ordered requirements to visit the two adopted children. But a DCF social worker sent emails post-adoption, as recently as September, to try to help the birth mother facilitate visits. The other two kids remain in foster care.

“It makes me sick to my stomach,” said one adoptive mother. “It makes me so sad for these three kids, these innocent kids that were — what I call, what I like to call — at the house of horrors that they dealt with for all those years” and didn’t lose visitation.

The Herald is not naming the adoptive parents to protect the identity of the children.

A former foster mother for two of the children told the Herald that DCF social workers told her to bring the children for a visit with their birth mother pre-adoption.

“They were very nervous and very scared,” said the former foster mom about the children during the visit. “At DCF, they’re in a position of authority and power in this process. You can’t question it.”

This case comes as lawmakers and an independent agency probe DCF for the handling of Jeremiah Oliver, a missing 5-year-old Fitchburg boy feared dead whose disappearance went unnoticed for months.

A DCF spokeswoman declined to comment on the specifics of the case but said in a statement, “DCF takes the safety of all children in its care seriously, and as such follows all guidelines for open adoption agreements. When parents or others seek open adoption, it must be approved by the courts and child’s attorney, this includes any visitation agreements.”

The DCF documents show the agency had been involved with the family since 2004 and there were concerns for the children about a “lack of regular medical and dental care, and poor hygiene” while they were in the care of their parents, who had been diagnosed as bipolar.

Efforts to reach the birth parents were unsuccessful.

DCF documents don’t state whether the abuse allegations were ever forwarded to the Worcester District Attorney’s Office. A DCF spokeswoman said the agency has a policy, however, to share all supported abuse findings with law enforcement authorities.”