Thursday, May 24, 2007

What's in store for DSS?

Sean P. Murphy wrote in his article "New DSS chief emerged from his own troubled youth" in today's Boston Globe that Angelo McClain, the newly appointed Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Social Services, said in a telephone interview, "If we can build a system that allows the dedicated and talented people on the front lines to do their work, then children and families can reach their potential". (http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/05/24/new_dss_chief_emerged_from_his_own_troubled_youth/)

I agree that there are many "dedicated and talented people on the front lines," but; I wonder if "a system that allows [them] to do their work" implies further extensions of the laissez faire holdings of the 1995 Supreme Judicial Court cases of Care and Protection of Isaac and Care and Protection of Jeremy which essentially preclude judges from effective oversight of the care of children in the custody of DSS.

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