Report: Child protection agency fell short in Baby Doe case
BOSTON -- Massachusetts child protection workers failed to thoroughly investigate earlier reports of neglect involving a 2-year-old girl, who was known for months as "Baby Doe" after her body washed up in a plastic bag on a Boston Harbor beach, the state child advocate office says in a report released Wednesday.
The report from the Office of the Child Advocate, an independent state agency, is highly critical of the Department of Children and Families in its handling of 2012 and 2013 complaints against the little girl's mother, Rachelle Bond.
The girl, Bella Bond, was known only as Baby Doe for three months after her remains were found in June by a woman walking her dog on Deer Island. State police launched a massive investigation to find out who she was and how she died.
A composite image of the brown-eyed, chubby-cheeked girl was shared by millions on social media.
In September, authorities finally learned her name after her mother allegedly told a friend that her boyfriend, Michael McCarthy, had killed her daughter. McCarthy, 35, was charged with murder,while Rachelle Bond, 40, was charged with being an accessory after the fact. Both have pleaded not guilty.
After Bond and McCarthy were arrested, Gov. Charlie Baker asked the child advocate office to conduct an independent review of DCF's involvement with the family. His request came after the high-profile deaths of several children with whom the agency had been involved.
The report says DCF social workers knew that Bond's parental rights had been terminated for her two older children, yet did not adequately investigate the neglect reports involving Bella.
"In both 2012 and 2013, DCF missed opportunities to gather pertinent information from professionals providing services to the family, and they did not properly consider the little information they did receive when making their final determination of risk to Bella. DCF relied on Ms. Bond's own statements in some cases and did not delve deeper by contacting professionals or agencies with whom she should have been working," the report states.
The report said social workers received conflicting information about Rachelle Bond's ability to be a good parent. Bond had a long history of substance abuse and prostitution. She had been arrested numerous times and served time in jail, including several months while she was pregnant with Bella.
After giving birth in August 2012, Bond was discharged from the hospital to a family shelter, where mother and daughter received services from a home visiting program until May 2013. After that, she moved into an apartment.
Bella received regular pediatric care through May 2014 and was up-to-date on her immunizations and on track with developmental milestones.
The report says that during Bond's involvement with DCF in 2012 and 2013, social workers received both positive and negative feedback on her ability to parent Bella.
"However, her past history of arrests, substance abuse, mental health issues, instability and the termination of parental rights for two other children should have triggered higher-level conferences at DCF, and closer attention," the report states.
"DCF's knowledge of her history should have also dictated the need to thoroughly check recent information from all known collaterals and not rely on Ms. Bond's own statements."