State Human Resources Secretary Brenda Donald told lawmakers Tuesday that policies, practices and training for social workers would be changed in the wake of the death of 2-year-old Bryanna Harris in Baltimore last year, and “there may be disciplinary action” taken against some of those involved.
Donald said 10 social workers over the course of seven years had contact with Vernice Harris, the mother, and her older children who were in foster care. “Everyone looked at their role in a very compartmentalized way,” Donald said. They were not fully aware with what was going on with the high-risk family.
According to the department?s inspector general, at one point, Vernice Harris visited a foster care worker who told her that she was no longer eligible for foster care services because her older children had been permanently placed, apparently unaware there was still a toddler left at home.
The department would be introducing a new framework for care called Place Matters that emphasizes family-centered practices, Donald said, and would look at having one counselor for an entire family. But there are still problems implementing the plan due to high rate of turnover among social workers, who often leave for higher-paying jobs, and the lack of foster family homes.
Responding to lawmakers? questions, Donald did not necessarily see the need for new laws on the books. She said increasing penalties for failure by health professionals and others to report abuse, as proposed by Del. Talmadge Branch, might have an impact.
Ameejill Whitlock, child welfare director for Advocates for Children and Youth, said, “we have major work force issues” at the social services agencies for children, including low pay and low educational standards. Her group favors an approach called “family-team decision making,” bringing counselors and family members together.
“There is not attention paid until a child dies,” Whitlock said. “Baltimore City is in a serious crisis” when it comes to child protective services, and “there has been a serious crisis for a long time.”
Donald said two-thirds of the department?s caseload is in Baltimore ? 6,500 cases ? and that?s where it spends two-thirds of its child protection budget.
