2025-04-15 00:00:00 - Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities

SPEAKER1 - Good afternoon. Jay Livingstone, the house chair of the joint committee on children families, and I'll call this hearing to order.
You can stand there.
Okay. So, I welcome you. This is an oversight hearing and an informational hearing where, it's by invitation only. I'm joined by my Senate co chair, Robert Kennedy, who will speak in a second. And also joined by, many of my colleagues, representative Marcy, representative Saunders, Repisina, Leader O'Day, representative,
Donahue, vice chair Garcia, and representative Mowgli. And with with that, I'll turn it over to the my co chair and then, we can call the first witness.
SPEAKER3 - Sounds great. I'll be very brief. It's great to be back in business and kicking off another session of, the really important work that we have in front of us as a committee. So it's great to be here today with all of our commissioners and and community partners as we, level set for the, session ahead. Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - And with that, I'll call our first witness, doctor Elaine Fitzgerald Lewis, from the Department of Public Health.
SPEAKER4 - Good afternoon. Can you be
SPEAKER1 - okay? Yes.
SPEAKER5 - Systems designed to save our health and well-being. The disparities we have been working tirelessly to address will worsen. More mothers and babies, especially from black and brown communities, will continue to experience the poorest health outcomes. Mental health challenges across all ages will continue to increase, especially among our youth who are struggling with depression and anxiety. People with disabilities
do better. The Department of Public Health envisions a just, equitable public health system that centers those facing systemic and cultural oppression. We achieve this vision by promoting health, preventing illness and injury, prioritizing racial equity,
and health, emergency preparedness, workforce development, modernizing public health infrastructure, and fostering a culture of public service. A key player in this work at DPH is266 the Bureau of Family Health and Nutrition, also known as BFAN, which I've proudly led since 2021. BFAN safeguards the well-being of Massachusetts mothers and caregivers, infants, children, and youth, including those with special health needs. We ground our approach in data driven programs, child centered policies, and culturally competent services to strengthen families and communities across generations. We administer the title 5 maternal and child health federal block grant, a cornerstone of our state's maternal and child health infrastructure. Over 1,000,000 families benefit from a title 5 program,306 affiliated partner, or systems level initiative
supports to families in need, to early intervention for 40000 infants and toddlers with developmental delays or at risk of a delay. Our pediatric palliative care network serves over 700 children facing life limiting illnesses. WIC provides healthy food and nutrition education to more than a 20,000 families each month. Our newborn hearing screening program ensures nearly 70000 newborns receive early screenings for hearing loss,358 enabling timely intervention and lifelong communication support. And beyond direct services, we collaborate across agencies to strengthen systems of care, such as our work with the Department of Children and Family, in which we aim to enhance services for infants with prenatal substance exposure. And with the Department of Early Education and Care, we provide381 clinical consultation for childcare providers. With MassHealth, we help pediatric practices integrate care coordination. With Executive Office
SPEAKER2 - of Housing and Livable
SPEAKER5 - Communities, we support families experiencing homelessness.
Families. Working families have the financial supports required to be with their families during some of the most important and challenging times in their lives. And these are just a few examples. These partnerships reflect our commitment
SPEAKER1 - we
SPEAKER5 - approach also fosters housing stability and employment access, and empowers families to have a voice in the systems and care that exists to support them.
Last week marked National Public Health Week, a reminder of the vital role public health plays in protecting communities. However, federal shifts threaten this stability. Many BPHAN programs depend on time limited federal grants, and recent staff layoffs at the federal level raised concerns about continued support. While Massachusetts state funding sustains key initiatives like early intervention, WIC, and pediatric palliative care, the maternal and child health
at the department, relies on federal483 resources. A reduction in funding would directly impact our ability to deliver high quality care, support Massachusetts families, and addressing emerging health needs. Therefore, we must secure and strategically allocate state resources to ensure continued support for families. The Bureau of Family Health and Nutrition is currently developing its title 5 state action plan to guide our priorities over the next 5 years. As we shape this road map, we remain focused on 1 goal,517 ensuring every infant, child, and family receives the comprehensive care and support they deserve to lead healthy lives. Today, I wanna highlight just a few of those priorities that demonstrate the significance of this work. Our plan will prioritize standardizing care for families experiencing substance use disorder and infants with prenatal substance exposure in partnership with DCF, providers and families, so that we can ensure evidence based, compassionate support is available. Expanding access to respite care for families raising children with medical complexities. Replacing a fragmented system with equitable, family centered supports for over 12,000 children in need. Expanding the Mass Start program, a free consultation service, ensuring
SPEAKER6 - comprehensive
SPEAKER5 - system to reduce vision agenda, creating a comprehensive system to reduce vision loss, support literacy, and close gaps in specialty eye care, and building capacity to address emerging crises. The resilient public health systems are essential for responding to crisis, from housing instability to natural disasters and epidemic outbreaks. Strengthening infrastructure and investing preparedness ensures that families and birthing people remain at the center of our response efforts. This includes expanding accessible housing, improving emergency coordination, and reinforcing community based support619 networks. By proactively addressing systemic gaps, we can build capacity to meet urgent needs and protect vulnerable populations before629 crises escalate. And data is the backbone of public health, guiding efforts to improve systems that we serve and the families that access those systems. The presidency risk assessment monitoring system, PRAMS, in partnership with CDC, has been a crucial tool since 02/2007 for understanding maternal and infant health in Massachusetts. It655 tracks key factors like social supports,657 mental health, pregnancy intention, use, infant safe sleep environments, all of which inform policies that reduce disparities and improve outcomes. PRAMS also provides unique data on women with disabilities. Its federal shutdown eliminates essential insights, weakening efforts to support maternal and child health here in679 Massachusetts. BFAN is also home to 1 of the 7683 centers for excellence in birth defects research and prevention in the nation. The center has studied birth effects for690 over 25 years, feeding data into the birth effect study to evaluate694 pregnancy exposures, a collaborative research effort with698 over 40,000 interviews since 1998. This long term dataset offers invaluable opportunities to study birth defects and stillbirths, advancing prevention efforts and protecting families. Without these critical data sources, the ability
expands Massachusetts maternal and infant health services, expands Massachusetts maternal and infant health services through an approach that prioritizes both mother and child. Supporting maternal and infant health is vital because it lays the foundation for a healthier future for families and and communities. This legislation empowers DPH to implement key initiatives, including statewide expansion of the Welcome Family Postpartum Home Visiting Program, oversight of midwifery care through a new board of midwifery, updated birth regulation birth center regulations to improve accessibility, ensure quality and safety, integration of lactation consultants into the board of allied health professionals, and creation of a fetal death surveillance system for improved monitoring and prevention. And finally, a public awareness campaign focused on perinatal mental health and pregnancy loss. Many of these initiatives are already in motion. The board of midwifery has convened, birth center regulations are approved,
initiatives, federal resources sustain public health infrastructure, including808 the staff, ensuring program delivery, policy coordination, and workforce training. Without federal support, these programs and the families who rely on them face uncertainty. DPH plays a critical role in strengthening child serving systems, ensuring families receive the care they need today and in the future. Through collaboration, we can build a healthier foundation for families across Massachusetts. Thank you again for allowing me the opportunity to testify in front of the joint committee. I look forward to continued collaboration across agencies, communities, and state partners, and this committee as we work together towards a shared goal. Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you for that testimony and for highlighting all the great things that857 you're doing and the859 headwinds you're facing from the federal government. You mentioned in your testimony that certain job losses at the federal government are making things more difficult and that, datasets that the872 federal government kept that aren't being kept are gonna make your research more difficult. In addition to that, has DPH everyday, I seem to hear about a new federal grant, that is being lost. Has DPH lost any direct federal funds?
SPEAKER5 - We have. And, my team can get back to you on those specific details. Not only have we lost them, we're also projecting further losses. So it's in that place of uncertainty that I think makes it that much more difficult to plan and strategize for our activities, not only now,904 but ongoing because we anticipate even906 greater cuts.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you.
SPEAKER5 - Thank you. And just asking that question from a different direction. How much title 5 funding does the state receive? Annually, we receive a little less than 12,000,000. That's level funded, and that's been pretty stagnant for over many decades. What makes that particularly challenging is that 12,000,000, again, supports our staffing, the infrastructure. As, salaries increase as we should in compensating, particularly our bargaining union, that runs up against our ability to respond to emerging crisis because we just don't have the flexibility to do that because it it's basically held up in staffing.
SPEAKER1 - Does anyone else have any questions? Oh, and I, right after I did introductions, the, ranking minority member, representative Sullivan Alameda, can you so sorry. I did not acknowledge you as soon as I started speaking. There are no other questions. Thank you for your testimony.
SPEAKER4 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - And next, commissioner Sautam
SPEAKER2 - from
SPEAKER1 - the mass commission on death and hard beer.
SPEAKER2 - Thank
you.
SPEAKER7 - Good afternoon, Chair Kennedy, Chair Livingstone, and members of the joint committee on children, families, and persons with disabilities. My name is doctor Opelua Sotonwa. I'm so honored to be with you today. So today, I wanted to recognize and honor today as ASL Awareness Day. So that is a special moment. 1400000.0 deaf and hard of hearing ASL users among the state that can celebrate this beautiful language. And I encourage others to learn ASL, including members of this committee. So take a moment when you can to learn some signs and be able to communicate to the deaf and hard of hearing. Thank you also, Chair Kennedy for asking me to sign a video after this hearing. So, thank you.
Massachusetts Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is a small agency that supports all deaf and hard of hearing persons across the state. We are a small agency. However, we do amazing work.
We support all those that are deaf and hard of hearing. And we have a 57 staff in total full time employees. And we have 40% of those staff that are deaf and hard of hearing themselves.
They have lived experiences. And so they, with that shared experience, can support, even more so, those constituents that are deaf and hard of hearing across the state. We coordinate1104 statewide communication access referral services for those that need either interpreting1110 services or CART providers1112 and we will provide those referral services for them. Currently, we have 360.
We have 360 ASL interpreters and 13 CART providers.
We also have after hours emergency services, AHE, which is designed to address any crucial needs during after hours and weekends and holidays. And providing those, services in needs of crisis and medical emergencies and so forth.
The fiscal year for 2026 was $250,000 was allocated towards this, support and this program. In July 2024, there were 33 emergency requests that we had filled. 30 of which were medical and 3 of which were legal in nature. We also had several additional requests that were canceled or unfilled due to the interpreter availability.
We also have a Communication Access Training and Technology Services or CATS, which MCDHH has in dedication to enhancing communication access for first responders, law enforcement, and medical personnel by providing specialized training on working with the deaf and hard of hearing individuals. We provide
those responders and emergency medical personnel across the state.
It is very important to have, my colleague here, Peggy with me. Peggy Lee, who is the director of communication services division or CSD.
And that division has 10 staff. There are 5 children specialists and there are 5 service navigators
who are all bilingual. Bilingual means that they speak both English and they use ASL as well fluently, and they can support all the families and children1258 that they serve, children and adults all across navigate all across the state and help them navigate the complex, systems, to get the services that they need. We collaborate with many sister agencies across the secretariat to ensure that their services are provided and their needs are met and they have full access.
There are currently 2,436 clients that we serve, of which 46% are on MassHealth.
Here are some of the services that they receive. Supporting parents and their child's diagnosis of hearing loss is supporting them after that diagnosis has been given. Attending school meetings to ensure IUP and communication needs are met. And coordinating care for deaf individuals in legal and crisis situations.
We also provide expert consultation to schools, hospitals, courts, and other entities.
We also provide other important services, which is the deaf and hard of hearing independent living services or DILs.
DILs is an amazing program that is funded through chapter 2 5 7. Many of you are aware of chapter 2 5 7, and we're continuing, to utilize, those funds to support that program, and we wanna thank you wholeheartedly for your support of that program. In fiscal year 20 25, DILs was funded at $3,800,000.
There are 3 different, groups of, organizations that provide services, and that includes the assistive technology and personal care assistance through these programs. Deaf Inc, Center for Living and Working and Viability. That program provides a total of 32699 service hours, and that was in fiscal year 2025. And that was provided to 2,556 clients. That is to ensure that they have access to essential living supports. And those supports include assistive technology and personal care assistance,
social and emotional support services, advocacy and resource navigation, and community integration and employment support.
As I've mentioned, based on our collaboration with, many partnerships across the state, MCDHH continues a robust network of collaborations, with these agencies.
These partnerships include partnerships with the Department of Children and Families or DCF. And we are working to recruit and support, foster families and those foster parents with deaf children. We also work very closely with the Boston Children's Hospital and DCF as well, and we have 2 successful recruitment sessions.
We also have 1 recruitment session that is upcoming on May 27, which will be held at the Willie Ross School for the Deaf in Longmeadow.
We also are partnering with the Western Massachusetts State Association for of the deaf and will continue to partner with them to recruit more potential families in the Western Mass region. The Department of Early Education and Care or EEC ensures that the deaf and hard of hearing hearing children receive appropriate early childhood education.
The Department of Transitional Assistance or DTA is improving accessibility for deaf and hard of hearing individuals in the welfare system.
In closing, MCDHH is committed to advancing equity and communication access for the deaf and hard of hearing residents, particularly children and families and individuals with complex needs. Our work is centered on partnerships, informed advocacy, and tailored support that ensures every individual we serve is seen, heard, and supported. Thank you again for your time and for your continued partnership, and I welcome any questions you may have.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you, commissioner.
For your testimony in how much you provide access to people and also advocate for how the state can do better.
What do you see as the the biggest challenge for the deaf and blind in Massachusetts now?
SPEAKER7 - So, we would like to, clarify. Deaf blind services fall under the purview of the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind, MCB. We provide communication access services and support for the deaf and hard of hearing.
SPEAKER1 - I realized it as soon as I said it. So what do you see as the biggest challenge for the the deaf and hard of hearing?
SPEAKER7 - Thank you. 1 of the biggest challenges that we face is the shortage of ASL interpreters, as well as card providers. However, our agency is working very hard to expand the pool of those providers, not just by numbers, but also by diversity. To ensuring that the deaf and hard of hearing persons do have the right fit, that can actually provide them services equitably. We also are partnering with community colleges and taking advantage of governor Healy's the mass connect program. That allows persons that are living here in Massachusetts that are, under a certain age to be able to access community college at no cost if they're under the age of 25. And also, they can expand their programs at a community college level. And I just went to the Western Mass Region on Thursday. And I went to a university Bay Path. Bay Path. And we they plan on actually establishing an ASL program there because they recognize the shortage. After hearing governor Healy's, state of the commonwealth address to everyone, which was 2 months ago. They were advocating for more ASL, interpreters and professional providers because we are severely lacking. So we are partnering with them to move, that effort forward to increasing our pool.
There is1736 a challenge for the deaf and hard of hearing, persons that are at a federal level. They're losing their jobs because there are many of them1744 that are hired, through1746 schedule a hiring authority,1748 which allows for, no competitive hiring for persons that are disabled in general. And many of them, are relying on if they don't have those, if they don't have those positions, they're relying for additional support financially and1765 otherwise. And so, we do what we can do to support them and ensure that we are continuing to provide, support at our efforts and supporting everyone regardless of their region all across the state of Massachusetts.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you.
SPEAKER3 - Thank you. And I wanna echo my colleagues, and co chairs. Thank you for the work that you do with us day in and day out, off behind the scenes to help make sure not just here at the state house1794 in partnership with Carl Orchardson, but certainly out in our communities that we're ensuring that all, our publicly accessible buildings are truly accessible to everyone. So thank you for that. And, I just want to ask, and I should have asked doctor Fitzgerald Lewis as well, but, we provided so much really important information. Would ask that you share your testimony, with us in writing as well so that we can make sure that our colleagues here in the, on the committee have access to the really important facts and figures that you brought up. And, I know we'll be tracking the legislation that the governor referenced, that will help more young people have access to ASL programming in in elementary school so that they can start to learn the language earlier on and, hopefully, then themselves consider a career in in ASL interpretation. So thank you, again so much.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you again. Does representative Cena?
SPEAKER8 - Well, thank you. Thank you for for your, testimony. I am curious to know in terms of the population, was it 1400000.0 that are deaf or hard of hearing here in Massachusetts? I just wanna make sure I have the right number.
SPEAKER7 - That is correct.
SPEAKER8 - And, out of those, how, are they reaching out to the agency in terms of phone call? Because you need a video type to1875 be able to translate or to communicate. How, in terms of accessibility for, being able to reach the department and the services provided, what are some of the ways and methods you use to communicate with the families that are seeking those services?
SPEAKER7 - Thank you so much, representative, for posing that1901 question. The deaf and hard of hearing community is extremely diverse. It's diverse in terms of their communication needs, and some utilize ASL, some do not. Some rely on assistive technology, which is could be including, but not limited to, cochlear implants, hearing aids. Some are older and have lost their hearing later on in life and identify themselves as deaf.
And some are deaf and hard of hearing that have additional disabilities that are not visible. So you wouldn't know their disability unless you had asked. And so I'm not sure if that may have happened in your case. Perhaps you've had a personal experience. We've encountered someone that had a disability that you were unaware of.1957 And so we try to advocate each person's, for their needs individually and give them autonomy to ensure that they have the customized need suited for whatever their communication access preferences are. There are video phones. And most deaf people do use video phones in their homes, so they can communicate via American sign language.
SPEAKER8 - Thank thank you. I just for the record, I my aunt was deaf and hard of hearing. So growing up, I've been seeing some of the needs and and the family had to step in in many ways to support her. So I wanna just commend for his advocacy and work in the commission. I I appreciate that. So thank you.
SPEAKER7 - I appreciate that. Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Any other questions?
Thank you, commissioner. Thank you.
Next, commissioner Sarah Peterson.
And congratulations on the recent removing of the acting to become the full commissioner.
SPEAKER9 - I apologize in advance. I'm getting over
SPEAKER10 - the cold, and I'm hoping
SPEAKER9 - that my voice is going to hold out for you all this afternoon.
Thank you, Williamson, chair Kennedy, and, the members of the joint committee on children, families, and persons with disabilities for the opportunity to provide testimony today on behalf of the Department of Developmental Services. As the chair mentioned, since I last saw many of you, I'm thrilled to say that acting has been removed from my title. I'm so honored to lead DDS at this exciting and challenging time. Over the past 7 months as acting commissioner, I've prioritized meeting with providers, families, staff, and external partners, and it's clear that there's a strong commitment to providing improved opportunities for individuals with disabilities to be fully integrated and thriving members of their communities. This commitment is 1 that I will continue to prioritize in my new role,2099 and I look forward to partnering with you all in these efforts moving forward. We are facing a growing population requiring more complex services and supports while bracing for significant changes and cuts coming from the federal government. Despite the ominous headwinds, we're confident that we can provide these crucial services through sound management, thoughtful spending, and strategic and creative planning that's already underway. I'm gonna start2127 with an overview of DDS services for you all. DDS serves over 49000 individuals with intellectual disabilities developmental disabilities, including autism spectrum disorder, Prader Willi syndrome, and Smith Magenas syndrome. DDS youth services are focused on family support and individualized services meant to supplement and support educational entitlement services. DDS has 2 intensive youth service models, our children's autism waiver program and the DDS DESE residential prevention program. The children's autism waiver is a self directed program that provides eligible children from birth through age 9 with extended habilitation education services intended to augment clinical and skill building services established through IEP goals and school services.
Program offers DESE program offers services to aim to prevent residential school placements for individuals in special education entitlement services. This program supports 800 students each year by building in home supportive services that reflect and build on IEP goals, services, and family supports that keep these students at home with their families. DDS adult eligibility includes a wide wide range of services that evolve unique in that we support individuals throughout their entire lives. Each individualized service plan or ISP is based off many facets of an individual's capacities, their natural supports, and available services to best support their goals, independence, and community engagement. These services include a variety of day programming models, varying employment supports, self direction options, in home support services, and residential models that focus on promoting independence and self sufficiently as reasonably, safely, and person centered as possible. To provide some context over 8,000 individuals in our community based day services, over 6,000 individuals in supported employment supports, and over 8,000 individuals in our various residential models. We also have over 52 family support centers throughout the state, which served over 21,000 individuals and families last year, and they offer services that range from respite to financial assistance. DDS also remains committed to supporting the changing needs of individuals and their families as they age. Starting in FY '20 '3, DDS convened an older caregiver advisory group to develop a work plan to address the unique needs of this population and is working with key partners, like the Executive Office on Aging and Independence, to implement needed trainings, services, and supports statewide. 1 critical population that we serve are those who are 1 critical population that we serve are those who are transitioning out of educational services into the adult system, otherwise known as the turning 22 class. Each year, this population grows in number and complexity. 1014 75 individuals entered the adult system this fiscal year, which was a 5.5% increase from FY '24. '2 '50 '6 of those individuals require residential placements, and a hundred and 43 are transitioning from high cost residential schools. Half of these individuals are on the autism spectrum, and 1 third have autism only without an accompanying diagnosis of intellectual disability. As the transition process can be complex, DDS area offices partner with DDS family support centers, citizen advisory boards, parent advisory councils, local school districts, providers, and advocates to facilitate a variety of informational2375 sessions for families in transition to age youth. DDS has also invested in our own clinical capacities over the past year by onboarding
DDS Intake and Eligibility in Area Office Transition Teams engage these experts to work with residential schools, hospitals, insurers, outpatient specialists, our sister agencies,
SPEAKER2 - court clinics, and others to ensure clinically sound transition plans are ready to
SPEAKER9 - be implemented by an individual.
Support a new residential program model for our individuals with the highest behavior support needs. These are folks who are often unable to maintain placements in traditional group homes, thereby increasing2435 their risk factors as2437 they are alternately supported in other settings, such as hospitals or with family who may be unable to adequately support them. The department also continues to assess the scope and effectiveness of its outreach and engagement with the adult and children's autism population across the Commonwealth. Growth for this population continues to be rapid. In this year alone, the number of eligible adult autistic individuals increased by approximately 15 percent. Over 1700 of these individuals are between the ages of 18 and 21, leading to our continued investment in transition age youth programming. DDS is focusing on varying ways to address these diverse and expanded needs. Some examples of this include an intensive community wrap pilot for individuals with autism and significant mental health challenges, rebidding our college and, coaching and college navigation services, a service dog pilot for young adults with autism, which is currently out to bid, developing a neurodivergent affirming mentoring service by and for people with autism, and collaborating with the autism commission on an outreach plan for older caregivers. Further, we are launching a statewide training on adult autism for stakeholders on neurodiversity, employment and clinical supports, as well as creating a professional learning community for staff to address the intersection of ASD and mental health.
The DDS Self Direction Program allows individuals and families to tailor the supports received to meet their specific wants and needs. The model provides for a variety of supports, goods, and services paid for by the department, but specifically tailored to the individual's unique needs. Currently, there are approximately 2,500 individuals choosing
Health and has continued to grow2565 its infrastructure to support these waivers. This year,2569 DDS provided support to over a thousand ABI and MFP residential waiver participants.
This fiscal year, we enter the second year of the the 5 year ABI MFP waiver renewal in which the number of residential waiver slots is increasing by 70 75 slots per year.
Health equity has been identified by secretary Walsh as a core strategic planning and operating principle in the work that we do. Last year, DDS partnered with Mathematica, a data and analytics consultant, to complete a health equity review of DDS. The review focused on service awareness and enrollment, assessment and authorization of services, existing provider networks, and the design and provision of Medicaid home and community based services. DDS is currently reviewing the recommendations with an eye toward identifying both short and long term goals to begin improving our approach to health equity more broadly.
Addressing the workforce shortage remains a top priority for DDS. Governor Healy's budget proposal included $388,000,000 in chapter 2 57 rate increases, which provided 20% increases across adult long term residential services, shared living, and in home support services. These rates now support minimum salaries of $20 per hour for direct care professionals, and more competitive salaries for licensed nursing and clinical positions. DDS has made substantial updates
SPEAKER11 - to these rates in recent
2665 SPEAKER92665 -2665 years,2665 cumulatively increasing them by 40% since f y 21. DDS is committed to building on this progress to increase day program capacity across the state. These funds will support updated benchmarking of salaries to the Bureau of Labor Statistics 50 third percentile, allowing providers to be competitive in today's labor market.
But more than wages, we need to attract talent to the field of human services. DDS attracts new talent through the Urban Youth Collaborative Program, which places high school and college interns in provider agencies, state operated programs, and developmental centers across the Commonwealth in full time summer jobs, providing support to individuals with intellectual disabilities. This program helps us
sponsor the DSW to LPN certificate program, which is designed to support direct service professionals to advance in their careers by becoming LPNs. For d d DSWs who have worked full time and in good standing with DDS for 2 years, the program provides the opportunity to receive an LPN certificate, fully funded by the department, up to $18,000 while receiving paid educational leave.
I would like to just briefly mention challenges from the federal government. I'm happy to say that DDS has very limited direct exposure in terms of federal grants, which could have a direct impact on, DDS services. But DDS does generate over $1,000,000,000 annually in Medicaid revenue through our waiver programs. Cuts to Medicaid as well as SNAP would severely impact providers' ability to continue delivering quality services and supports. Furthermore, changes in immigration policies, such as the end of temporary protected status, would pose significant threats to the DDS workforce. We are closely monitoring the situation with frequent communication with our counterparts around the country and in close collaboration with EOHHS, MassHealth, and our provider networks. In closing, I'd just like to say that at DDS, we're committed to transparent, consistent, and equitable approach to the provision of services. We are particularly focused on cross agency collaboration, evolving service models, and meeting the complex and growing needs of the population we serve. Thank you for allowing me this time. I look forward to our continued partnership, and I'd be happy to take any questions.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Thank you so much for your partner for your partnership and and for all that you're doing for the populations you serve. 1 of the things you mentioned was a pilot for the highest risk behavior, kids. And I was wondering if you could elaborate on on what you're doing and and how it's working.
SPEAKER9 - Sure. So we we just, earlier this calendar year, put out a new RFR for a residential model that is very highly clinically focused. So it requires a high level of clinical support in the home as well as clinical oversight from the provider and, requires that the providers accept referrals from a a certain selected group of, individuals who have those high acuity needs. We're seeing increasing acuity across the board, and, it's really difficult to find placements for those folks. And a lot of times, they end up boarding in an emergency department or, spending longer than we'd like in 1 of our emergency stabilization programs. And so we're really trying to build out that capacity to incentivize, providers taking on those difficult cases. This is the highest rate that we've ever paid. It's higher than our, highest medical, home, and we're, we're hoping that that provides some opportunities for placements for these folks.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. And, also, I'd like to acknowledge, 2 new members came, representative Debois and representative LaBeouf. Thank you.
SPEAKER3 - Thank you. And I echo, the the congratulations and and glad to to no longer have to use the acting. So congratulations and and looking forward to working continuing to work together. And I apologize if I, missed it. But can you talk a little bit more about the self direction program in terms of, individuals being able to ident to actually find services that they're looking for and and whether, you see if it's a benefit towards being able to further reduce reliance on residential programs or or long term facilities. And let me just first say thank you. I know this was a long time in the making, get the getting the regs out the door, so thank you to this administration for for doing so. But if you could talk a little bit more about any outcomes that so far you can share.
SPEAKER9 - Absolutely. So, you know, staffing remains a challenge across the board, and, self direction is no different. However, you know, the families and individuals who choose to self direct have some more flexibility in terms of the rate that they pay. And so sometimes they can, you know, get somebody who is a natural support or someone in their community who can provide those services. I do think that self direction, in addition to, some of the services through technology that we have, assistive technology and remote supports and monitoring, that those are really the main ways that we're going to be able to get away from the residential service model that we have been wedded to for such a long time. And, 1 of the challenges, I will say, however, is that, some families are concerned about self directing services because they have to take on, you know, additional roles of finding and being the employer for people. So we're really trying to build out our infrastructure at DDS in order to assist3016 those families through that process. We have, placed a a support broker at each 1 of our 23 area offices who specialized in self directed services. And I think that you'll see in terms of growth where we've grown that program, about 22% over the last year, that I think that, you know, strides are being made in that area, and I hope that we can continue that. Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Are there any other questions?
SPEAKER2 - Mister chairman?
SPEAKER1 - Yes. Thank you.
SPEAKER12 - Good afternoon, commissioner. Thank you for, the information you provided to us this afternoon. Within my office, some of the challenges that we have received from constituents has been, and I I apologize if you spoke to this, but but respite care. And, you know, and then getting into conversations with with the families and with the workers, and there oftentimes seems to be sort of a disconnect between what the expectations are, what the actual rule of thumb is. And, and I guess my question to you is, you know, where is the the agency today, with numbers, you know, available folks for respite? And, you know, criteria seems to me to be,
a misunderstood sometimes, limitation between the client and the family and and the actual clinician. So I hope I didn't miss your conversation on that. But if you could sort of speak to that, that would be great.
SPEAKER9 - Sure. Thanks, representative. The the respite services are primarily, provided through our family support centers. And, in terms of actual numbers and and wait list, I'd have to get back to you in terms of of that particularly. But it's really about finding the right match. So as I mentioned, the department serves almost 50,000 people throughout the state, and, our obligation is really to provide individualized service plans for those people. So you can imagine it can be tricky to find the right match for the for the person who's seeking it. And sometimes what it comes down to, unfortunately, is not having the right placement available for that person or that family at the time that they need it, particularly if they have complex medical needs. So I'm assuming that some of those challenges that you're hearing are not only due to capacity, but perhaps due to the level of need and what we have in terms of capacity that might be available for someone.
SPEAKER12 - Yeah. I think it's a little bit of both, but I guess what concerns me the most is when you need respite, you need respite. Right? I mean, if you're I I I'm thinking very particular, like, of a family. It's it's a dad and his probably 30 year old son. His his wife passed away a couple years ago, and it's like the 2 of them. Yeah. And, not necessarily even speaking to the complications, of his needs, but the need of the dad is like, you know, I love my son, but at some point in time, I need a little break. And and if there are no other family members or what have you, that's what whatever the need might be between the 2 of them, it still certainly becomes a crisis or a critical situation that the the the father and the son are like, what are we gonna do? You know? So those are the kinds of situations. And I think that's when it boils up probably the most when it just has been over over time, overdue, and it just isn't happening. So that's my concern.
SPEAKER9 - Absolutely. I yeah. I I think that, you know, some of the work that we've been doing surrounding aging caregivers is related to that, and I don't know if that's the the situation with this particular case. But, you know, it's really important that we support those families because without their support of their loved 1 in their home, then we would be looking at a residential placement, which, you know, potentially would be a much more difficult outcome for the individual. It would also be much more costly to the state. So we wanna support those family members, as as much as we possibly can. So, your point is very well taken.
SPEAKER12 - Thank you, commission. Appreciate it.
SPEAKER1 - Any other questions? Thank oh.
SPEAKER13 - Thank you. Thank you, commissioner. You mentioned the self directed care. 1 of the issues that I've seen is people who feel that they can use the self directed money for any service3282 that they think is appropriate. Can you address that issue at all?
SPEAKER9 - Absolutely. Yeah. That is a really tricky issue because, you know, first and foremost, when we're administering these programs, we're stewards of the taxpayers' funds. And so we need to make sure that there are appropriate guardrails in place to be certain that the funds are being utilized, in the way that we think is appropriate. So we do wanna be flexible. We wanna allow families the ability to, you know, be creative in the way that they make up a meaningful day or life for their individual, but we also wanna make sure that those funds are being used solely for the individual. So we've done a lot of work. Chair Kennedy mentioned the regulations that recently came out, not so recent now, about 6 months ago. And we also have put together a lot of guidance for families, and those support brokers that are embedded in the 23 area offices are really the experts at navigating some of that to see if we get, an invoice from a family.
SPEAKER2 - Is it lining up with the program parameters to make sure that
SPEAKER9 - we're being good stewards of the
SPEAKER1 - You got it. I think it's at its limit.
SPEAKER14 - Oh, okay. Alright. Here we go. Thank you so much, and,
good afternoon, chair Livingston and, chair Kennedy and distinguished members of the joint committee on children, families, and persons with disabilities. My name is John Olivera. I've been proud to serve as commissioner for the Commission for the Blind for approximately 18 months. So MCB has been serving Massachusetts residents who are legally blind since 19 o 6. MCB serves approximately 28,000 individuals who are legally blind. We maintain a register, and the register is obtains new consumers,
by doctor's, eye reports. The eye care providers in Massachusetts are mandated by law to provide the Commission for the Blind with information when a consumer becomes legally blind. That is extremely helpful when we're, when we are working with consumers and trying to find them. They come to us in many cases, but then met and that they also, can self refer themselves if they have not seen a doctor or if they move here from another state. They find their way to us. More than 2, 2 thirds of the residents, that we serve are over the age of 60, and the, average age is 81 years old. Age related vision impairment exceeds the entire the, all other etiologies in Massachusetts.
The again, the doctors here in Massachusetts are great partners to us in helping us, obtain and, work with, the new consumers that, are declared legally blind. So at MCB, our mission is to provide and divide individualized training, education, and employment to people who are legally blind, advocate for inclusive policies across the Commonwealth with the goal of a lifelong independence and full community participation for our consumers. Let me talk about our social rehabilitation program, which serves a large number of our registered, consumers. Social rehabilitation offers a variety of services to maintain people in their home. Some of these services that we provide are independent living skills training. We show people how to operate their stove safely, their oven, prepare meals safely so that they don't have to rely on the Meals on Wheels as their only meal of the day. They're able to prepare, many other things that they like after receiving training
SPEAKER2 - at
SPEAKER14 - the home and and do it quite safely. Orientation and mobility is another service that we provide. That's the use of the white cane. That's extremely important because it allows the individual to travel with a level of confidence into their community and know that they can still go to the corner store and pick up a gallon of milk, or they can go to the bus stop and take a bus to a a different location and go visit a friend or go to, whatever appointments they may have.
The social services program also provides services to children's, children birth to 13. Our children's social workers work very diligently, with our parents to support the the child, and many of these3626 children have complex medical needs.3628
Along the among the services we provide to them is flexible, flexible funding,3636 which allows them to support their respite care service needs, purchase equipment that the insurance may not cover, that the child needs. And we also provide many other, services that, support to, for services that the child needs to maintain, the to maintain themselves at home, with the parents taking care of them. MCB provides campership, funding that allows the children to experience camp, experiences. These ex these camps are either camps for blind children or camps that, host children with disabilities, and they are able to experience many of the activities that many of us experienced while we went to campus children. During the past year, MCB's, assistive technology staff has trained, the vision rehab therapist staff at the agency so that they are able to provide beginner training to those consumers who need, training in the use of iPads or iPhones so that they can access the accessibility features as far as large print or the speech output that is generated by the iPads and iPhones. This has been a a tremendous help to many of our consumers. It allows them to stay in communication with their family. They're able to send emails, using the the large print features, the magnification. They're able to look at pictures. They're able to play games in in some cases, and that helps, them, keep themselves entertained and rely on the their iPad or their iPhone like many many of us do. The other area that we provide services in is vocational rehabilitation services. These services allow us to work with consumers who are interested in in seeking and obtaining employment. This this funding federal funding is, comes to us from the rehab service administration, and the state provides a a match to allow us to draw down the entire grant. Assisting these individuals in obtaining college education or obtaining certificate and vocational type programs and providing them with the assistive technology services and substantial amount of independent living services allows us to to able to place many of our consumers into well paying jobs and allow them to live a life that, allows them to participate in their community, be independent, and make a living and and support their family. These services are extremely important to, those consumers. To this date, we have not had any federal impact, on these this program, but we are watching closely and working with our federal partners to to make sure that we, are, diligent and and can stay current on what may be happening. But fortunately, at
we are, we're doing well. We have not received any any any cuts at this point, but, we are expecting a federal allotment of the grant in the next, couple of weeks. So, hopefully, everything will continue to to flow smoothly. The, this working with the with the blind and visually impaired has experienced3858 a tremendous shortage of staff.3860 We have partnered partnered with UMass Boston with their vision studies program to develop, a series of videos and a course that will be offered in in curriculum at UMass and other colleges to introduce individuals who are interested in in careers in working with the blind. Many of those, individuals we have found do not know what career opportunities they might
might be.
SPEAKER2 - They don't understand that working
SPEAKER14 - as a mobility instructor, showing someone how to use a cane, a vision rehab therapist, a teacher of the visually impaired, vocational counselor, are careers that are out there and are are have quite a demand around the country. If you, have those sets of skills, you can get a job in almost any state, and and the jobs are very, reasonable paying, especially, in the more expensive states. The the starting salary is, is, becoming, very acceptable, for individuals who are interested in pursuing this. So it it it's our expectation that, using social media, and this course to introduce undergrads to, opportunities to work with people who are blind will be, helpful in starting to move us in that direction where we can, have individuals who are, ready and and able to work in the field. We are looking at undergrads because majority of the individuals we are getting now in the program are individuals who are looking at second careers, or have had, a variety of other jobs and, obtain, the level of education that's needed and then enter the field later in life. So we would like to, again, approach the undergrad so that we can get get folks looking for, graduate degrees coming directly out of school and allow them to to start and get into this, field earlier than what we are seeing at the current time. Third portion of, services that we offer at MCB is our turning 22 program. We provide specialized services to young adults, including those who are deaf blind or blind with developmental disabilities. This program offers a variety of residential models, case management, and day programs to support the consumers, living arrangements in the best setting that works for them. Currently, MCB is also collaborating with New England Home for the Deaf, where we are providing funding to allow the Home for the Deaf to send an individual, to the emergency room with a deaf blind consumer so that their needs as as far as communications can be, helped out by the companion that will go with them. We heard of several stories that were very disturbing, to me and other staff, and we felt that this was a a perfect opportunity to start this program and offer, assistance financial assistance to, have someone accompany the deaf blind individual to the hospital. These are residents that live at the home for the deaf, and so, therefore, they're right on campus. And, staff, they would know if they, if they need the staff to to go with them, and we were happy to provide, the funding for the the staff. We also, are proud to, support the deaf blind community access network program, to serve consumers who are deaf blind, allows these consumers to have a tremendous amount of, access to different programs in the community, of their choice. And that's been a tremendous help, to many of our consumers that utilize it in the field, and we're we're proud to have those funds available to us and, that our consumers are are taking, good advantage of them. Death Inc is a partner in this this, program, and we're proud to collaborate with them. We also collaborate with many other of our sister agencies here presenting to you today. We have some shared consumers, and we work well together and and partner well with them to to make sure that our our consumers who are blind and have other disabilities can also, take advantage of services from our agency and any other of our partner agencies here.
The programs we offer make a significant, difference in the lives of individuals who we serve in the commonwealth. I believe that our consumers are taking a tremendous amount of, advantage of our, ability to offer them assistance. Our goal is to keep our consumers living independently in their community so that they do not have to consider moving to an assisted living center or moving to a nursing home sooner than than way than they would have to to be. If their issue is that they're losing their vision, our services help them get to the point where they can function in the community and don't have to make those types of decisions until later on in life. Thank you again for the opportunity to testify before you today, and I welcome any questions that you may have.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you, commissioner, and thanks for all your work, not only providing the services you do, but also the advocacy for the state to improve its access. I had a question about the the UMass program Mhmm. That you referenced. I guess it's 2 part. First, are you finding that that is getting students interested in in improving, the workforce in Massachusetts? And then second, have you thought of doing something similar at community college, which now is offered, free under certain circumstances in Massachusetts?
SPEAKER14 - Right. So so we, we received some funding, federal funding from rehab service administration, in October, to start this project. It's a proposal that we we made to them in in August, and they they funded, that we would be able to do this type of program. So we're currently we're developing the course. It's almost complete, and, the videos, are currently also in development, and we expect to have, most of this done by, August. And then we will we'll roll them out. As far as using it at other universities other than UMass, because we're using federal funds, we're allowed to share that curriculum with other institutions. So and I've I've spoken about this with with UMass, and they they, vision studies. They they definitely agree and concur with that. So we will share the videos or the undergrad course with any entity that, wants to teach them, including community colleges in this state and also in other states. Because the problem we have here, shortage of staff, is not just a commonwealth problem. It it's a problem for the field, that's experiencing around the country. So we would be glad to offer that to them. And hopefully, in in a year or 2, I can report to you guys that, we are seeing significant, increases in student attendance, which would then result into, more hires and more personnel to work with individuals who are, legally blind in the Commonwealth and and around the country.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you.
SPEAKER3 - Thank you, commissioner senator Kennedy. Just it's so great to, to be with you here today. And, thank you. I want to note a comment that you made about the collaboration, as I noted at the Health and Human Services, the Human Services budget hearing. It's great to see so many commissioners from the human service side at HHS here supporting each other and and listening to each other's testimony, which I know speaks to the collaboration that you have. If you could go back to the federal funding for a piece, and and we'll knock on wood and cross our fingers that you, haven't haven't had any funding cut. But I'm wondering because we know and I think 1 of the other, big concerns and and challenges that we face is with the termination of federal employees. And so I'm curious if if you've heard of or been notified of any contract managers or federal employees that that or departments that you typically work with that have been terminated or or reassigned. I know HHS at the federal level is going through a a pretty significant, restructuring or, dismantling at the moment. So if you could just speak to that because I think that also speaks to the challenges with grants that are up for renewal or or pending. Mhmm.
SPEAKER14 - Sure. I I was in Washington last week, actually, at the, conference of agencies who are serving, blind folks around the country. And, the, rehab service administration staff came and gave us the usual presentations that we see from them. They, were very cordial and did a great job working for us, during last week and provided a lot of information to us. They would not answer any questions that related to their job, obviously. But, I have heard that, I think4450 it was 2 of the legal staff, were, put on administrative leave at the agency. The acting commissioner, retired, about 2 weeks ago, and another long time employee also retired a couple of weeks ago. So we are, hoping that, it stays stable. Rehab service administration is part of the Department of Education. So it's it's a an agency that employs about a 30, hundred and 30 5 individuals that serve the entire country. So it's a small agency with, an impact on every vocational rehab rehab program around the on in every state. We're hoping that if they do not stay at the, Department of Education, that they move to another agency that will continue to provide the support they've been providing to the, state's agencies for for many years. And, again, it was hard to gauge4514 the how they were feeling.4516 Obviously, they're a little nervous. And and, the folks that we work with on a regular basis, our program staff and our fiscal staff, continue to work with us and are are all currently working. We had some communication on the week before last, and, we've had, new individuals assigned that worked at the department assigned to our, grants to replace the individual that retired. So it looks like things are moving forward and that hopefully we can, get our last portion of federal funding, to continue our services. And, but it's, again, I'm very hopeful that, at least this year's budget will be in, we'll get the balance of the grant, and it'll continue. I I I'm very strongly, feel that, this agency may be moved, but, vocational rehabilitation and the older independent blind program serves, blind or disabled people around the country. And cutting it, substantially would impact, a a substantial amount of individuals. And, vocational rehab is is an employment program. Just this week, we received almost $200,000 in SSA reimbursement funds for placements that we made. So it's a it's a benefit to to the to the government federal government to have VR agencies working to try to put, folks who are blind, back to work, and, get them back, and get them off the Social Security benefits that they were collecting. So I think they they would see the the, the the, obvious benefit in that. Also, our older independent blind program. The services that are offered through that program, along with the support services that we get from state funds here, have a tremendous, a tremendous impact on the community because it keeps folks, either living independently or living, close to their family members where families can check-in them and keeps them out of any assisted living or or nursing home facilities, which are a much higher cost to the state, or the federal government than than the the program the services that we provide to them now. And so I I'm very hopeful that things will work out, and, it's, it's, it's I'm I'm hope that things will will work out, and, we'll be, hearing some good news, in the near future. I know there's a lot of turmoil and a lot of confusion and a lot of noise being made in the media, but I'm I I prefer to keep a positive outlook and a positive hope that that things will work out for the for the best for the disabled folks in our country and and for the for our our folks here in the state and our seniors here in the state.
SPEAKER3 - Well, thank you, commissioner. We're gonna hang on to your optimism
SPEAKER2 - and and certainly
SPEAKER3 - keep moving forward here in the Commonwealth and in protecting the rights of of people of all abilities. So thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Right. I too hope you're right. Yes. Are there are there any other questions?
Representative. Yeah. Great.
SPEAKER15 - Thank you, commissioner.
So first comment, I really wanna thank you for kind of outlying all the programs that you've done. I4719 know that when you the commission has really had to rebuild itself over the last, couple of years, and and it's just really great to see the restoration of a lot of those services, that had been previously reduced. I know 1 of the challenges, with the previous administration was that a lot of the more local regional offices were were consolidated or closed. I know, especially in Central Massachusetts, that was a big, concern for us about how were our constituents gonna get the types of services they need. And you did allude to this in some of your testimony, but I'm hoping you can describe if there is someone, you know, who would need the commission services that is in, say, Worcester or Lester, you know, and they can't find a way to get to 1 of the offices in Boston or Western Mass. How how is how is that interaction facilitated? Right.
SPEAKER14 - So you are correct about, our closing of the Worcester and New Bedford the Worcester and the New Bedford offices several years ago in a different administration. Through, our relationship with, our DCF, agency, we we have, space in in New Bedford and Worcester, that we're able to use. We use that as a touchdown space. We're able to, bring, receive our packages, our supplies to provide to consumers there. The staff are able to go in and spend an hour or 2 there. We do whatever they need to do the at the, the office setting. So with our new hybrid work,
you know, model, our consumers, are seen in their home. And we've always seen them in their home, but our staff go out to see them 3 days4826 a week, and they work 2 days in their home, at at their4830 home office. It it's worked out very well. I know at first because the way it was done without much community participation and feedback and and acceptance of what was happening, it it was sort of a shock to the residents of, of the the areas that were impacted. But because of the hybrid model and, where all of our staff have mobile phones, and that's how they can, consumers can reach them, we also, still maintain our number here in Boston. Consumers can call our Boston office, and we will put them in touch with the with the director of, Wister, and the the director will get the worker to call them and take care of their needs. We haven't had any issues I monitor this closely. Any complaints that come in or any issues that are going on, regarding, someone not being able to reach the office, we wanna take care of those right away. I haven't seen any in the in the past, bit of time. So, therefore, I'm assuming that consumers, are happy. We and are receiving what they need. Also to assist in that area, we are in the process of of hiring, and and the worker will be starting in May another vision rehab therapist to cover the Worcester area. They've, a worker retired from that position about 6 years ago, and they were never replaced. And I felt that4920 because the need out that way and just having 1 person doing that job to cover the entire, area, it it was just, people were not getting enough of the services they needed. So we have a a second, individual starting in early May, and they will, offer those services in home to consumers, in our social rehab program and when needed in our vocational program. Our clients in our vocational program have the ability to come to the Carroll Center and receive in-depth, intensive training, but those individuals who prefer not to come and and and will just prefer to take the training in their home, this rehabilitation teacher or vision rehab therapist will will, go a long way to increase the number of our, individuals that we can contact and the number of times we can see individuals. That's what I was more interested in to making sure that we can spend more time and provide more training to individuals who who need that training. Any other did I answer your questions?
SPEAKER15 - You did. Thank you thank you very much, and thanks for recognizing, that need in our region.
SPEAKER8 - Yeah. Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Commissioner, thank you for your testimony.
SPEAKER14 - Alright. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER1 - Next, commissioner Tony Wolf,
who's and congratulations on your new agency name, Mass Ability.
We got a lot of celebration. We
SPEAKER2 - gotta we gotta hold
SPEAKER16 - it. We gotta hold it.
SPEAKER2 - We gotta
SPEAKER3 - Stay optimistic. That's right.
SPEAKER4 - So, I think many of you know Massability, and I cannot say enough of how much we appreciate your support. And as I've said in the previous, testimony, I am incredibly grateful to live in Massachusetts. Each and 1 of you have always supported people with disabilities, and I wanna thank you for that. I'm more than happy to talk about Massability, but I also am very sensitive to your time and wanting you to know what we're beginning to see. And unlike, our previous commission, it was very positive. I I I also believe that there perhaps there's changes happening and that maybe there's some opportunities in those changes. But at the same token, you need to know what's happening. And I think many of your constituents have already been calling you because you've been calling us. And so I particularly wanna talk a little bit about our disability determination division. And as you know, our commissioner assistant commissioner is here. There's been a lot of change with Social Security already. And I just wanted you to kinda know the landscape that's beginning so that your5083 constituents are informed. And we are more than happy to send whatever information you need to kinda guide you in your office. In addition to social security that, Asia's gonna talk about, Asia James, our assistant commissioner. There's just recently been, as of March 26, a change in the way individuals, have to pay back, their dollars, pay back, to the Social Security Administration if they have5114 overpaid, if there was an overpayment. In the past, it used to be 10%. So if someone got a job, alright, and by the time they reported their income, and perhaps by the time Social Security Administration addressed the change, there was unintentional overpayment. And Social Security Administration had been able to give everyone 10%, take only 10% out of their income, alright, to be able to support that change. As of March 25, everyone, past March 25 will have to pay back a %. So I am sure that has not caught up yet with your constituents, but I can just speak for us. We know that a number of people are unintentionally have been overpaid because the good news is they're in careers, and they will be very surprised when, they have to pay a %. So the landscape is changing, and I just want to make sure that we're available to you to give you what maybe we understand and that we can give you back so that there's some knowledge. Maybe Asia can talk a little bit about the landscape on the Social Security side.
SPEAKER16 - Good afternoon, chair Livingston, chair Kennedy, esteemed committee. It's a pleasure to be here with you today. So there are significant changes on the Social5197 Security side. I will say5199 that Disability Determination Services is a state agency. We process disability claims for the Social Security Administration. We are 100% federally funded. However, we are state employees. We are charged with processing the Social Security claims, and so all rules and regulations are set by the Social Security Administration. In the past, up until January twentieth of5225 this year, we've had a very cooperative5227 relationship with our regional partners, in Social Security. There has been a dramatic restructuring in how Social Security sees bureaucracy, and so many of the partners that we have worked with are no longer, employed or they have been reassigned. Whether the attrition is by retirement or forced retirements, out of 8 commissioners nationwide, the 5 of 8 retired at the5256 February. The restructuring has also changed where Massachusetts fits in the national landscape. Previously, Massachusetts was a part of Region 1 out of 10 regions in the Social Security Administration, and Massachusetts was the largest state. And oftentimes, the largest state gets the most resources. However, there has been a consolidation, and Massachusetts is now in the same region as Philadelphia, New York, and New Jersey, Pennsylvania. And so that means that we are concerned about potential resources for f y 26. We have been fully, funded for our f y 25. However, we believe that some of the changes in the Social Security administration will also see we will also see increased, applications in f y 26, and we are unable to hire additional staff. So that is pretty much an overview. We are watching closely changes in policies, including, this administration's
requirement that individuals present themselves to the Social Security offices in person to provide identification and proof that they are who they say they are. We are concerned about this, especially given that our population, we serve all members of citizens of Massachusetts with disabilities, physical and hidden invisible disabilities, and so we do have concerns about this. And there are several offices slated to close, field offices slated to close, so we do believe that is an additional obstacle. So with that, I don't wanna seem unoptimistic or pessimistic, but that is a realistic, assessment of where we are today. Thank you.
SPEAKER2 - Yes, ma'am.
SPEAKER4 - I really appreciate it. So, again, I think we wanna make sure that your constituents and you get as much information as possible. I also wanna say that, Massability is, 73% of our workforce is federally funded. So that's a significant number. That is both in terms of, discretionary grants as well as formula grants. Excuse me. Our career services is a % funded federally. Alright? That is a significant service as John, commissioner of the blind just said, work is essential in people's lives. Careers is essential in people's lives, and we wanna make sure that's maintained. But we are carefully watching what is potentially happening. As, previously said, rehab services administration5419 has been, unclear where it will fall. Right now, it is under the Department of Education. As we know, there is a,
rationale to dismantle the Department of Education. We are also seeing on our independent and home services, administration of community living has also been dismantled and is moving, within, children and families under health and human services. We yet know don't know what that means, but I think what it indicates is that there's turmoil. And very much like commissioner, Olivero said, our RSA partners at in DC were very kind and very transparent and clearly just did not know the answers to many of our questions that we were not yet able to ask, because we understandably, we couldn't put people in hard positions. I do wanna say 1 piece that's really important to us today, separate from our, what may happen in the future.
Career services has the ability through RSA, rehab services administration, to be able to acquire reallotment dollars. Those are 1 time dollars that are available to agencies across the country, and that's based on whether there is money left over, alright, from other agencies so that it goes into the pot and we can apply for re reallotment dollars. We have been very fortunate to be able to do that over the last 4 or 5 years. Obviously, we're not sure if that's available to us or not. And I'm sorry. All of a sudden, my voice is going. It's Freudian. It's Freudian. I apologize. However, we have been able to what, often is referred sometimes
utilize re reallotment dollars to cover, inflationary costs, whether that is bargaining unit costs, management rates, increases, with our provider rates, and so5550 forth and so forth. If we don't5552 have the ability to access realotment dollars, we will need to make sure that we look at whether we can maintain the5560 same level of vocational services today. So we just want to kind of alert you to that. Alright? We have some we have plans, and I do believe in plan a, plan b, and plan c. And so we have all of those, lined up in case we won't know until, September whether we will be able to access those realignment dollars. And, obviously, we're all waiting to see what's gonna happen in the next federal fiscal year. So, again, not to doom and gloom. Right? But to be a cautionary and to really be able to work with you so that we can really share information, stay current to what's changing, and really know that we are partners with you. Because I think everyone in this room immensely cares about services, immensely cares with the lives of people with disabilities. So thank you for giving us this opportunity.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you, commissioner Wolf, for you and your staff for your clear eyed view of what's happening. I hope, commissioner Oliveira is right though, that, the federal government recognizes what everyone here recognizes of the, great benefit of the services you're providing. I was wondering on 1 of the last things you said about the re realotment dollars, How much has that meant to you over the last few years?
SPEAKER4 - This is Moe Pascua, our CFO.
SPEAKER17 - Hi. It's it's meant significant significant amount because for us,
realotment funds helps cover that cost. So that is something that is very critical for us.
SPEAKER1 - Like, approximately, how much money has that been?
SPEAKER17 - It's been anywhere from 8 to $10,000,000 a year annually.
SPEAKER18 - Oh, wow. It's significant.
SPEAKER1 - And then when you're mentioning that, next year, you anticipate an increase a significant increase in the applications for social security, for people with disabilities. Why do you think that?
SPEAKER16 - Well, part of my responsibility is to watch the news and the economy very closely.
SPEAKER2 - Yeah.
SPEAKER16 - And based off of that, we make projections. In addition, we do have every year, we have a significant amount of individuals who age out of being, disabled children, and they have to file new applications as adults. And so as you know,
people who have been diagnosed with conditions such as autism. And5721 as they age out, they apply5723 for disability benefits as an adult. So we take those things into account as well as I said with the economy. And some of, the issues that we see with our federal counterparts, oftentimes people do work with disabilities, but when they have to take early retirements or leave a job, we also anticipate to see a rise in disability applications because they have always had disabilities, but they have had the opportunity to work. And because when the opportunities
SPEAKER1 - Commissioner Peterson testified that, she anticipated a 15 percent increase in the people with autism receiving her services adult. And so that's what you're seeing anticipating is gonna impact your workload as well.
SPEAKER16 - I cannot say 15 percent, but, yes, we will really nicely arrive.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you.
SPEAKER3 - Thank you so much. And a note, for for us that, commissioner Oliver, you'll be going last from now on
SPEAKER2 - in the
SPEAKER3 - in future hearings. But but thank you. And and I appreciate the reality because that's what we are, that's what we're here for is to to make best projections and and plan accordingly here in Massachusetts. And to your point, I think everyone up here in in in the state wants to make sure that we5800 can continue to provide services to the best5802 of our ability and continue to help folks live in their communities. I do just on a quick question, I5808 think there's a bigger, broader SSI or change that's happening. But in terms of the determinations, so are individuals able to still engage with Massability employees, so to go to a Massability office to be able to get the determination, being able to then actually get SSI, I imagine, would have to find whatever will be their now new closest office. But if we're looking to figure out how to to backfill any of those changes, are they able to still are you still able to make make the determinations so at least they can be determined to be eligible and then have to figure out how to get the
SPEAKER16 - So I heard 2 things there. And the first, I will say that the appropriate office to go to to apply for disability benefits under the Social Security Administration is not the Mass Ability office. It is to go to their local Social Security office, the ssa.gov website, or to call the 800 number for SSA. Because it is a federal program, it's not our program. The initial application process originates with SSA, and then SSA basically outsources to the state DDS. And we pick up midstream an application, and we do a medical determination. It also involves a work investigation, and then we send the case back. We make a recommendation, to the Social Security Administration who gives the final decision. But disability determination services will continue doing what we do and that is to process those applications as efficiently and accurately as possible. The individuals can still contact Mass Ability. They can contact Disability Determination Services. And if it's within our jurisdiction, we will be able to answer questions to them. What is frustrating for many of our consumers and constituents is that oftentimes they have a question and so they know that this office processes disability claims and they're looking for answers on earnings records, which we cannot provide. They're looking for answers as to final determinations, which we also cannot provide. And so that right there is a situation, I think, that is really troubling. It has existed, for a very long time, but we need better cooperation and support from the Social Security Administration so that we can answer these questions and provide information when people call because it's very frustrating. This is not a program of a first resort. It's a last resort. And so oftentimes, the that decision, people are waiting, and it's a difference between a mortgage payment and being homeless. And so that's the answer that I could give you, but we understand.
SPEAKER3 - No. And I and I appreciate that. I think it's an important clarification because certainly anticipate our constituent calls and will certainly increase with the, with the challenges that are are projected. And so what I think I think I heard you say, and just to be to be clear that any even if we supplemented or created even more regional mass ability offices, that wouldn't we we actually we can't intervene at all in this capacity to to help alleviate the the challenges for our constituents in getting to. We're just gonna have to figure out which offices exist and then figure out how to help them get to that office
SPEAKER2 - Yes.
SPEAKER3 - Which SSI offices exist.
SPEAKER16 - But I also think that this is an as the commissioner said, we have to look for opportunities, that this is an opportunity for states to voice their concerns about this communication disruption with Yeah. Social security. And I find that when the states, not an administrator, but when the states, such as you, representatives can contact these officials, it really does change processes. And I think what we need to be looking at is a better way for communication and for disability determination services. There's 52 of them to have the ability to answer these questions to our constituents.
SPEAKER4 - Thank you. If I could just add, I think many of you reach out to us and we are handcuffed. And so I I know how frustrating it is, for each 1 of you, and we feel the same frustration. So, you know, again, in crisis are opportunities. So maybe this might be 1 of those that we could try to think about how we could influence, SSA in the future.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Are there any other questions?
Thank you.
SPEAKER4 - Thank you very much. Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Next, commissioner McHugh from the Department of Transitional Assistance. We're gonna be spending our way. Yeah.
SPEAKER3 - Hey. Keep it positive, commissioner.
SPEAKER19 - I'll probably come somewhere down around the middle. Start that change.
SPEAKER1 - Oh, I'm I'm sorry. Have I? I missed, I
SPEAKER19 - was wondering if I was out of bowl.
SPEAKER1 - Executive director Nancy Altero from sorry. I'm here. I was so excited.
SPEAKER3 - That's why we teamwork.
SPEAKER1 - Yes. Yes.
There. From DPPC. Thank you.
SPEAKER20 - Thank you.
I'm gonna take the higher chair.
SPEAKER1 - Okay. Because I am short.
SPEAKER3 - I know. My phone's not quite sending me further.
SPEAKER20 - Yeah. Well, good afternoon, chair Livingstone, chair Kennedy, and committee members. My name is Nancy Alterio, and I am the executive director of the the Disabled Persons Protection Commission, otherwise known as DPPC. DPPC is an independent state agency charged with investigating and remediating instances of abuse against adults with disabilities between the ages of 18 and 59 by their caregivers. We share a similar mandate as the Department of Children and Families, the state's Child Protective Service System, and the Executive Office of Aging and Independence for the protection of older adults. To provide some scope of the Commonwealth's nearly 7000000 citizens, about 800000 over the age 18 or about 11 percent of that population identify as having a disability.
DPPC partners6193 with the Department of Developmental Services, the Department of Mental Health, and6197 Mass Ability to who6199 conduct investigations on DPPC's behalf and provide
SPEAKER2 - recommended protective services. DPPC continues to
SPEAKER20 - see a steady protective services. DPPC continues to see a steady rise in our cases. In fiscal year 24, we received almost 18,000 calls to our 247 hotline. Of these calls, 2,000 were informational callers seeking resources like housing or parking plackets. 16,000 were reports of abuse and neglect. Of those reports, the DPPC screened in for investigation about 3,000 allegations. So what happens to the other 13,000 calls? DPPC takes a no wrong door approach. That is, allegations or abuse are accepted by the DPPC even outside of our6247 jurisdiction. Many of these reports are conditions, while problematic and warrant action, do not always rise to level of abuse.6255 We also receive calls about victims who are minors, older adults, residents in nursing facilities, or self neglecting in the community. We accept the information and route every allegation to the appropriate state agency. Our intake data is also vital for the state's critical incident reporting and vendor quality assurance management. To that end, the DPPC is currently rebuilding its case its case management system to streamline data to allow real time information sharing with partner agencies. In fiscal year 25, DPPC projects a 10% increase in abuse reports, 13% increases in case screened in for investigation, and an n 8% increase in sexual assault cases. Some of the uptick can be attributed to our increased statewide education and outreach efforts launched, including the launch of our new website, release of our training video series, and a public awareness campaign, all made possible by grant funding. Most cases begin with a call to our 24 hour abuse reporting hotline. At intake, DPPC fields and screens every call and processes written in online reports of abuse and deaths of persons with disabilities. The DPPC also houses a state police detective unit trained in unique aspects of adult protective services, such as state residential care models, vulnerabilities and communication barriers for victims, and stigmas associated with mental health. The troopers review every intake for potential criminal conduct and refers matters to the district attorney's offices for review and investigation. The troopers conduct criminal investigations at the direction of the
Commonwealth. In MOU with all 11 district attorneys, allow adult protective services, DPPC, investigators to collaborate with local and state police on investigations, whereby limiting duplicate interviews, allowing us to share resources, and mitigating victim trauma. Our top priority is assessment and mitigation of risk. For screened in cases, the next step is an investigation. Investigators are in the field interacting with victims and witnesses, assessing safety and risk, and fact finding. For many years, due to under underfunding, this central investigatory role was performed primarily by our partner agencies within health and human services. Thanks to the support of of this committee, your
unexplained injuries, medication administration errors, failure to adhere to treatment plans, up to physical assaults, rapes, and preventable deaths. Investigations are often complex and cog and complicated by cognitive, physical, and communication barriers of our population, further exploited by insulated programs and self protectionist caregivers. DPPC oversight officers carry an average case load of about 76 and climbing. They6466 review every investigation to assess for risk, ensuring compliance with investigatory standards, and coordinate implementation of protective services. In a high risk case such as a victim in the community with no state support, it means marshaling and coordinating all resources from from service providers, legal, law enforcement, medical, and clinical services. All reports alleging sexual abuse are also referred to DPPC's sexual assault response, SAR team, mostly funded by a grant through the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance, this unique team includes sexual assault abuse survivors with intellectual and or developmental disabilities who offer peer support and service referrals to connect survivors with specialized trauma services. SAR is a national model and a resounding success in assisting this historically marginalized population. Then there is our legal unit. Aside from reviewing petitions and6529 representing the agency in litigation, thanks to this committee and the work of advocates like the Arc of Massachusetts, the legal unit created and oversees the operations of DPPC's abuser registry. Since February, the registry of abusive care providers serves to prevent, following due process rights of appeal, abuses of persons with intellectual and or developmental disabilities from continuing to serve that population.6559 DDS vendor agencies must search potential staff through the registry before hiring. Over 260 organizations perform over 25 searches each month. Over 150 abusers are listed on the registry, and that number is growing. We hope to expand the registry to include our entire population and other service providers, such as day habilitation programs. Also led by the legal unit is our interagency protective service integration, system team known as Ipsos. It's a mouthful. The Ipsos Ipsos initiative funded through a Commonwealth allocation under the American Rescue Plan Act seeks to interconnect protective service providing agencies in the Commonwealth. When agencies are siloed, people fall through the cracks and preventable strategies ensues. It is vital that every Commonwealth agency with a responsibility to the victim is aware of a case. For example, a 21 year old with an intellectual disability is abused in6628 a residential school that services children and adults up to the age of 22. The findings of a DPPC investigation may be relevant to6638 the school's licensure agencies in the executive in the
SPEAKER2 - executive office of education. It should also be communicated
SPEAKER20 - to DCF to
juvenile population. It should it should also be referred to the Department of Developmental Services for transition into to adult services. In a in addition, maybe we want to flag systemic problems, and share it, within the program and share it with the office of child advocate or collaborate with the
connecting the service dots. Our efforts include negotiating data sharing agreements with agency partners in fortifying our digital infrastructure to improve improve data share. We are actively engaged with health and human services compliance office in an integrated protective service and
risk management project to use the EHS master data management hub as a key component of this initiative. In parallel, DPPC is rebuilding its case management system
the service dots are connected for victims with disabilities. Finally, like everyone, we have an6722 eye in the federal administration. 2 new separate but interrelated regulations were implemented under the prior administration. 1 designed to provide high quality adult protective services and the other to advance health outcomes for Medicaid beneficiaries. Both regulations will impact DPPC's operations and the state's federal funding eligibility. In conclusion, DPPC is a small, busy agency combating unfortunate increases in abuse and neglect of persons with disabilities. We pride ourselves on creatively harnessing resources to ensure the safety of our population to whom we are dedicated. I am proud of the work that we have achieved achieved, but there is absolutely much more work to be done. Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Thank you for testifying and and for all the work that you do. I had a quick question on the I guess I had 2 questions, but first, the Ipsos program Mhmm. That you said was originally ARPA dollars.
SPEAKER20 - So originally what?
SPEAKER1 - ARPA or American Rescue dollars. Has have you found another funding source?
SPEAKER20 - This, this the the upper funds that we have allocated through the state is, we have it through,
February.
SPEAKER1 - Okay.
SPEAKER9 - Mhmm.
SPEAKER1 - That's great.
SPEAKER20 - Yes. It is.
SPEAKER1 - And then, you reference at the end, federal reimbursement or federal, dollars?
SPEAKER20 - Federal regulations. There's 2 regulations that were federal regulations that were just established. 1, to, provide minimal standards for adult protective services in across the country.
SPEAKER1 - Yeah. But but then you referenced that it that those would impact our ability to get federal dollars?
SPEAKER20 - If the DPPC and the exec and the Executive Office of Aging and Independence don't meet the standards of the federal rule, we'll be in jeopardy of receiving any federal funding.
SPEAKER1 - Okay. And are you making changes to to meet those industry? Do you anticipate that to be a problem?
SPEAKER20 - You know, what the the new rules are as well as what our statute allows us to do. And so we may be coming before you to make some statutory changes to come into compliance with the federal rule.
SPEAKER1 - Okay. Well, we look forward to those conversations.
SPEAKER3 - Thank you so much and just wanna echo the the gratitude for the partnership. I know we will, hear legislation later this this session, that I know will help address some of the challenges you referenced at the DPPC. So thank you.
SPEAKER20 - And I appreciate your work on, the prior legislation as well. Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Are there any other questions?
SPEAKER18 - Not necessarily a question, but I know you touched on, how your office kinda works with the public. Can you explain to the committee as far as how, complaints are brought to you? Is it more so that you guys are more proactive, or is it reactive in the sense that when you work with the partnerships, whether it be law enforcement or the district attorney's office or medical professionals, are cases brought to your attention, or do you have to go seek out some cases depending on the situation?
SPEAKER20 - It's a combination of both. So, under our statute, there are certain disciplines, that are required by law to report to us. And then as well as we are actively, outreaching to the community to educate others on, to recognize abuse, to know where to report it, and then how to respond to it. And that includes the potential victims themselves, persons with disabilities. So we work with, persons with disabilities, law enforcement, prosecutors, victim witness advocates, forensic interviewers, medical community, academia, us, our, our, the our, partners in health and human services, BDS, DMH, MR, Massability, as well as DCF and, the Executive Office of Aging and Independence, to get and we work to educate the public at large.
SPEAKER18 - And and you service the whole entire Commonwealth. Correct?
SPEAKER20 - The Commonwealth. Yes. And we can investigate abuse anywhere except for a long including including the correctional facilities. The only place we are excluded from conducting investigations is in a long term care facility, a nursing home as the Department of Public Health's jurisdiction.
SPEAKER18 - Okay. Thank you. Mister chair.
SPEAKER1 - No problem. Thank you. Are there any other questions?
SPEAKER20 - Thank you. I really appreciate your time. Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - And now commissioner McHugh.
SPEAKER19 - Good afternoon. I I wanna thank, the chairs, Kennedy and Livingstone, and members of the joint committee on on children, families, and and persons with disabilities. My name is Jeff McHugh, and I have the distinct honor of serving as commissioner and leading the incredible team at the Department of Transitional Assistance. DTA is the is the largest and most impactful anti poverty agency in Massachusetts, 5 none. Our singular mission is to help low income families and individuals break the cycle of poverty. We serve 1 in 6 people here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. That's 1 in 6. Over a million residents utilize our benefits and programs, making DTA the Commonwealth's frontline agency on poverty and anti hunger. Our SNAP program is by far the single largest food insecurity initiative in Massachusetts, pacing all other outpacing all other hunger relief efforts combined. SNAP brings in close to 3,000,000,000 federal dollars to the Commonwealth annually, and every SNAP dollar spent creates $1.50 of economic activity. It's 4,500,000,000 of economic activity DTA and our clients generate, supporting thousands of local grocers, farmers, retailers, and jobs in communities across the Commonwealth. But we aren't just putting food on tables for families, we're putting money directly into local economies. Our SNAP recipients, to give you some sense of profile, nearly a quarter of these individuals are older adults. 28 percent of our clientele have a self identified disability, and over 1 third of our clients are kids, are children. But our work breaking cycles of poverty goes well beyond food security. DTA provides a comprehensive support system designed to address the interconnected challenges of poverty. Our direct assistance programs include cash assistance through our infant allowance for new parents, relocation benefits, infant allowance for new parents, relocation benefits to help secure more permanent housing, work related expense disregards, and earned income disregards, assisting people to move move beyond our benefits into more
employment programs last year, we helped over 700 clients secure jobs with an average wage of $19.25 per hour, well above the minimum wage. And through coordination with partner agencies, much of the work you've heard today, clients gain immediate access to mass health coverage, childcare vouchers, LIHEAP fuel assistance, discounted utility rates, and reduced MBTA fares. Our work with partner agencies focus focuses on the work around services that directly address the cliff effect. We're implementing solutions to ensure that when a client secures a promotion or a new job, they don't lose the benefits worth more than their increased wages. It is through critical partnerships with elected leaders like yourself That we can create policies allowing for smoother transitions away from DTA services and remove those barriers to advancement. Our shared goal is to help clients find gainful employment while providing the essential support they need on their journey toward economic security here on the Commonwealth. We support vulnerable residents in every community across our state, from Boston to Pittsfield, from Cape Cod to Salem, and every municipality in between. But the need for our services has never been higher. Over the past 5 years, our SNAP caseload has increased by about 40%. Our economic assistance program that supports families has seen a nearly 50% caseload increase in that same time period. And the program that helps older adults, people with disabilities, and children has seen a caseload increase at a staggering 70%. These numbers represent real families facing real challenges. These are your constituents who are struggling to make ends meet. Our clients include children needing nutrition, single parents working multiple jobs, people with disabilities, and working folks who have fallen7323 on hard times through no fault of their own. DTA isn't just addressing today's poverty. We're we're heavily invested in in breaking the cycle for future generations. But like others you've heard before you, our work is under threat. We are facing down potentially devastating cuts in our programs in the future from the federal government. Congress is currently engaged in discussions about cuts that could lead to upwards of a 25% reduction in SNAP benefits. I mentioned earlier that SNAP accounts for about $4,500,000,000 of economic activity in the Commonwealth. Within the next year, there's a chance we could see just a quarter of that just wiped out. If we hit the worst case scenario, we will see a significant rise in hunger. We will lose hundreds of millions of dollars in federal assistance that support people in putting meals on the table. There are similar discussions about a 10% cut in the TANF grant, TANF block grant that's available to the state. Our financial assistance program for families, TFDC, is funded by TANF. So are many of the wrap around programs that I mentioned earlier. Your committee's work is critical now more than ever as we work to protect our clients from these potentially devastating cuts. I don't wanna enter enter my testimony though on a fully negative note. Yes. We are facing down some really unconscionable cuts, but I'm confident to tell you today that there's not a single better team available to you to face these challenges than my colleagues at DTA. I have the honor to work with some of the most respected, dedicated, passionate, and empathetic staff and advocates in this battle. When I say it is our mission to end the cycle7442 of poverty, I truly mean it7444 is the mission of every person who works at DTA. We are creating opportunities for children in our network today to permanently move beyond generational poverty. I do wanna take a minute at the end if I could for a little bit of a public service announcement and a bit of a commercial. And I think I forgot my props, but I
ask my colleagues.
Later this month, we are shipping we are, shifting to a new back end system for our EBT system. And I did wanna take the opportunity while I had representatives from across the state to be able to share that news. This effectively will afford us the opportunity for our EBT system, which is our vehicle for SNAP benefits and cash benefits
moo new, more secure platform, which will basically set the stage for us moving from the current EBT system to a system that will afford us the opportunity to
larger level of security in our EBT processing and address, to a large extent, the benefit theft that I suspect that many about you hear about from your constituents every day. Part of this process will involve shifting to a new vendor at the end of this month. And on April 26, which is a Saturday evening at 11:00, we're going to need to shut down the EBT processing system from 11:00 till about midday the next day. Now, we are communicating that with our to our clients via text messages, via notices. The props that I have available are likely the kind of things that you should see on your at your grocery stores, at your corner stores, and other retailers that you'll see, which will be an advance notice to clients, that during that short window period, they will not be able to track track transact business via that EBT card. I know we sent around a communication to legislators just asking your help when you serve 1,100,000 people. It's really challenging to do the level of communication necessary to hit everybody. So I would appreciate if I could informally
The transition at the end this month will not transition7607 us immediately to chip cards. It will effectively be7611 moving us to a new EBT vendor, but it'll put us on a platform by which we can engage in some months of stabilization to make sure the system is working and working proper appropriately for us to make the next step to embed chip cards. When we get to chip cards, I'll be asking for your help again. Because when we go into chip cards, we're not going to be able to, like the current situation, utilize existing cards and having them the existing cards work at the end of this month, like they will, again, just in our shift to the provider. When we engage in a process down the road and we're we're we're a few months out from that because there'll be a lot of work to accomplish on the retailer side here with the chip cards, we will effectively be doing a mass replacement of cards. And we will not have a situation where people's existing cards will work. We'll have to actually engage in a mass replacement, which will not be a small7672 effort with as many people as we serve. Thank you for the opportunity to put the commercial in. I just wanna close by saying we at DTA remain unwavering in our commitment to serving the Commonwealth's most vulnerable residents with dignity, respect, and offering them the opportunities for effective pathways out of private out of poverty. Because at DTA, we don't just provide7697 benefits, we provide hope, and we provide a pathway out of7701 poverty. Thank you for your time. I'm delighted to engage in any questions from the members.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you, commissioner McHugh, and thank you for all your work, in the last administration and this 1. It's always been a pleasure to work with you. I was wondering if you could describe, what is the benefit of a chip card versus the current card that that, people use that doesn't have a chip in it.
SPEAKER19 - So, not all, but a large amount of the theft that is happening right now across our state. And I I would say it's not unique to Massachusetts. It's a massive problem for us. It's worse in New York. It's worse in worse in New Jersey. It's worse in many states across the country. We have a criminal element that is engaged in predatory behavior and has targeted the most vulnerable people. The chip I should have mentioned also. Besides the chip card technology, mister chairman, there'll also be an opportunity for individuals to engage in tap to pay. So, actually, will be contactless opportunities to be able to pull. What we are finding is that much of the theft that is happening comes from people embedding some primitive skimmers in our our retailers. And to7783 extent and it's catching not only our clients, but it's catching people that7787 don't have chip card technology on their debit cards or credit cards. The chip cards will effectively provide a vehicle to buffer against that skimming technology, as well as the tap to pay component will basically not engage the skimmer at all and will effectively allow people to
Up to last December, if somebody had their benefits stolen, we would take a report relative to that. We would investigate the circumstances. It's it's fairly easy for us to be able to track the analytics where the transaction took place and be able to get some statements as to where the individual was themselves. Many of these involve cases where the actual benefit is stolen out of state, so it's fairly easy to make that call.7846 Up to last December, we had the vehicle available. The federal government, this is SNAP as a federal program, afforded us the money to be able to make replacements. With the continuing resolution effective December 20, we lost that capacity. So right now, we are faced with the unacceptable circumstances of telling individuals that fall prey to this activity. Here is the address of the local food bank or pantry. Unacceptable. So that's effectively all we can offer to individuals right now. We are taking the reports. We have taken the circumstances. We'll continue to be able to document individuals that have where theft has occurred. We don't have a vehicle to make them whole.
SPEAKER1 - And then do you have all the resources you need in order to make the transition to the chip cards to prevent that type of circumstance?
SPEAKER19 - Thank you. I I didn't provide you with that question, but it feels like I made him. I last just within the last 2 weeks, the governor filed a supplemental request that came before the legislature. There's $15,500,000 targeted to go to DTA with favorable action on that supplemental, which would afford us the opportunity to move forward on chip cards. $15,500,000 is the price tag for us to do that. Half of that money right now based upon the formula in place is will be reimbursable after the fact from the federal government. So the net cost would be about 7 and a half.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you.
SPEAKER3 - Thank you, commissioner. I know our committee will, be considering legislation around, the state paying back, the stolen benefit. So I appreciate that conversation continuing. Can you talk a little bit about TFDC and with the increase, that was in this year's budget and how that's looking again? We know that the budget process is still playing out, but what consumers should see this year and and what potentially July 1 might look like?
SPEAKER19 - So we, were put in a challenging position like most state agencies with respect to our budget request for this year and looking at our resources and where we needed to deliver our resources.
We have just implemented a 10% increase with respect to TFDC and EAEDC benefits. That went in place April 1. Our budget submission contemplates that going away on July 1. I recognize that that has been the subject of some back and forth activity between this administration, previous administrations, and the like. It was simply a matter of of of budget actions, what we could afford and what we couldn't afford. We went somewhat all in on the food security agenda to be able to move forward with that, and we look forward to continuing dialogue with this committee and ways and means in terms of where, future activities go in terms of
of of, financial grants.
SPEAKER13 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Any other questions?
Ladies first.
SPEAKER2 - Sure.
SPEAKER1 - Representative Dunnehugh.
SPEAKER13 - I was I was talking with a member of my congressman's staff, and she was talking about apologize if I haven't internalized the whole thing. But, the people with whom I spoke mentioned that, you know, following up on the chairman's question, that you don't have enough staff to process people's requests quickly. And they mentioned that if, the failure rate to process cases properly can increase the state error rate and risk potential federal sanction. And the concern the people with whom I was speaking were saying it's not DTA's fault. They just don't have enough staff. And their concern was twofold. 1, the risk in federal funds, and 2, the fact that these delays cause people not to receive the needed food benefits they they need.
SPEAKER19 - Representative, a a fair question, a fair concern. It's 1 I live with every day. I I have to note though that over the course of the last year plus, the legislature with at the ask of the administration has effectively afforded us the opportunity to add about 300 staff to DTA. And I'm very, very grateful for that opportunity. Again, I I I mentioned earlier how our caseload has burgeoned and the challenges coming with us in terms of a larger caseload, along with the fact that we've moved past the pandemic. And more importantly to us, we've moved past some of the pandemic flexibilities around the rules that have brought back, higher interviews, higher levels of staff engagement that are very much taxing our work. We're being strategic around our staffing. We also have funds that have been made available for us for overtime. We're trying to be strategic as we end as we can around that. We're bringing technical supports in place around this. I made the point as I appeared before the Ways and Means Committee. I think that, as we talk about these kind of things, that I think often people talk about our ability to be able to support folks' demands, and they look directly at the dollars that are in our direct service account. Our direct service account is critical. It is our lifeblood in terms of the work that we do. Our administration account, though, can includes technical support, includes the our our computer systems, includes our phone systems, other areas that are critical to our access. So it's incumbent upon me as the agency head to look at the additional resources, some 300 staff that have been given me, and trying to make sure that we engage in the kind of industrial engineering necessary to be able to support the folks we have. We're very sensitive to the error rate issue and making sure and and knowing not only how that potentially endangers our federal dollars coming in, but how it translates to people receiving the appropriate public benefits.
SPEAKER13 - Thank you very much.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you, reverend. Thank you. Representative Labouf.
SPEAKER15 - Thank you, mister chair. So, commissioner, thank you for addressing the privacy, matters that was actually gonna be about what most of my questions I had for you is. Related to the topic around the modernization and and some of the fraud that has occurred because of the technology. First,8258 has any of it been traced to, the vendors these kind of, like, pop up vendors that will set up on a street corner or a pharmacy or the post office saying that they can get someone a cell phone plan if they show them their MassHealth or the EBT card. Has there been any correlation between, with the fraud people that were victims in those? No. No.
SPEAKER19 - Certainly not that I'm aware of. Again, we do strong analytics with respect to being able to pinpoint when these thefts are. Again, it's part of the verification process to document that, in fact, a theft did occur. So we're able to pinpoint that. Much of the activities happening out of state. 1 of 1 of the areas and again, I I'm hoping it's it's a plausible area. We can have some, discussion with the, federal government. The SNAP program is federally funded. It affords portability of the benefit, which means people can use the benefit across across multiple states. I support that in terms of people visiting neighboring states, visiting family, sometimes going to funerals. But I'm also able, at times, to identify certain locations in other states that I know are not being visited by our clients, that I know may be shut down, the processes are there, and they're drawing down on it.
SPEAKER2 - It doesn't really have any relationship to these
SPEAKER19 - pop up phone businesses or anything like that.
Cases where I could substantiate the fact that inappropriate withdrawals are taking place. No. And I appreciate that. I I the fact that inappropriate withdrawals are taking place.
SPEAKER15 - No. And I appreciate that. I had a credit card that once got compromised and, someone had a very fun time in a Meijer in Ohio, about that. But, related to the new vendor, a lot of, individuals in my district
occasionally, depending on the amount that's left at the end of the month, the amount of times they've had to swipe the card in order to properly process it. And given that a lot of these are, you know, really small local farmers, does this new8383 vendor address some of these challenges?
SPEAKER19 - We've worked really closely with hip retailers with respect to that. I had the opportunity myself, about a month and a half ago to talk with a number of folks because unlike other other retailers, there are some smaller hip vendors that are gonna need the issuance of new equipment associated with this.
SPEAKER2 - This
SPEAKER19 - does 1 of the things that I should have mentioned this in the opening, we're buying into this new EBT vendor with every other New England state. And so we're buying as a conglomerate, which affords us the opportunity for greater purchasing power, but also allows us to throw a few elbows in terms of really asking for some enhanced functionality. And some of the functionality we're gonna get is the flexibility to make changes around the hip program to be more innovative in other programs to be able to promote access through the vendor. I agree. Thank you. I'll certainly, address internally with our team some of that, and I know exactly what you're talking about in some of the small swipes here. Thank you. Thank you, representative.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you, commissioner.
SPEAKER19 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Oh, sorry. Representative Saunders.
SPEAKER17 - Thank you, mister chairman, and thank you, commissioner, for your testimony. I have a a couple of questions about, rural poverty and regional equity. Rural poverty oftentimes is the least visible poverty that we have.
And whether it is access8476 to services and geographic proximity, connectivity to the type of technology that we now take for granted. Folks who live in small and rural communities, are often being left behind, and I'm interested in in the deliberate actions that the department is8495 taking to address the needs8497 of residents who qualify for services, but may not have the access8503 to, the Internet, to Yep. Walking to it'd be to to public transit. I I think it's wonderful that, folks have reduced, MBTA fares. There's a lot a lot of us that pay for the team but have no access to it. And8522 how we can ensure that these folks are not put further at the bottom.
SPEAKER19 - Representative, very fair question. I often will go on the road and talk about how unique a vehicle we have in terms of our DTA Connect mobile app. And I will talk to folks who say it's great if you can get it. And, that runs just those situations. The best vehicle we have, representative, in terms of trying to address that is,8553 2 things, I8555 would say. 1 is, I served as commissioner here8559 from 02/2015 to 02/2019. I was at another state agency for a few years and now I'm back. During the period, I was gone. There was a lot of work that went on within these departments to look at the healthy incentive program, to look at new vendors, to be able to specifically try to get address issues where we had food deserts, where8580 we had areas that we were8582 not engaging, and we could not promote the level of access necessary relative to that. The second answer, and we lean on this heavily, we have about a hundred and 4 community partners that exist across the state. These take the form of, school systems. These take the form
SPEAKER14 - on councils of aging.
SPEAKER2 - These take the
SPEAKER19 - form of a number of food banks,
of a number of8605 food banks, pantries, and other areas that work. We're looking to expand upon that number, especially in areas like the ones you are talking about, where transportation is a challenge, where8617 areas where folks the next market is perhaps not next door. Those kind of situations where we can engage. Those community partners are invaluable to us, helping people complete applications, be able to make sure people stay in contact, and also promote kind of a mobile capacity to DPA to meet clients where they are.
SPEAKER17 - I appreciate that, and I look8643 forward to being a partner in that work. At the risk of being anecdotal, 1 issue that has been brought to my attention multiple times, and I I understand and appreciate, representative LaVotte's question about the access to be proved.
There's a stretch in my8666 district when I drive from New Salem to Peterson, which are both real places, that there's 0 cell service. It just
SPEAKER19 - doesn't exist.
SPEAKER17 - And if somebody is waiting for a phone call and it happens to occur where there is no cell service, and then they are they they missed it. They missed their opportunity. It could be, by some of the accounts that have been brought to my office, days, sometimes weeks before they have the opportunity to have that conversation again. And I raise it just, again, in in the interest of equity and recognizing that there are locations in the Commonwealth that may need8706 some special consideration of dispensation because there are no8710 other options for these folks. And,8712 and again, if I can be helpful in helping make that a reality, I'd I'd love8716
SPEAKER1 - to do that. I'd I'd like to
SPEAKER19 - take you up on that because it's an area of mutual concern for us. I'm very interested in looking at the possibility of doing some satellite offices, things along those lines we have. You know, those towns are familiar to me. Those are, those areas where we have some of the dedicated staff that I spoke to are8736 from. And it is an opportunity to have folks work closer to their homes, but more importantly, work closer to the clients that we have to serve. I'd like to8744
SPEAKER17 - be able to find a happy medium there. Thank you. Thank you, mister chairman.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Thank you, commissioner. Thank you. Alright. Next, we have Kim Irving, director of complex case management at the interagency review team.
SPEAKER21 - Thank you. Good afternoon, chair Kennedy and chair Livingston and members of the joint committee on children and families and persons with disabilities. My name is Kim Irving, and I'm the director of complex case management for EHS.
I joined EHS to spearhead the interagency review team process. Thank you for the opportunity to provide an agency update on the IRT in the informal hearing. Now I'm gonna go into the background of how the IRT was established. The IRT review team was established from Mass General Law chapter 6 a section 16 r, which authorizes HHS in partnership with DESE to conduct interagency reviews on complex cases. 1 0 1 CMR 27 sets forth the definition for a complex case and processes for referral to and review by the interagency review team. 1 0 1 CMR 27 dot 0 3 defines complex cases as cases where there's lack of consensus or resolution between state agencies as to the individual's current8840 service needs or placement, or the individual is waiting in a hospital, emergency room, medical8846 bed, at home, or another location. And in urgent need of8850 disposition planning, there's no
8852 SPEAKER28852 -8852 identified8852 placement and no
SPEAKER21 - identifying funder. This replaces the United
disabled, have a complex behavioral health or special need, qualify or may qualify for a state agency, or special education services through the LEA. The IRT is required to conduct reviews of eligible cases for and act within prescribed time frames. The IRT meetings are held at set times twice a week to ensure that we're meeting those needs. There are designated members from each agency that participate in the IRT meetings.
SPEAKER4 - All of
SPEAKER21 - the designees from each agency have decision making abilities. Therefore, they can act in real time and make decisions at that present of that meeting.
Members of the IRT consist of myself, and then I have 2 complex case program managers8916 at EHS who8918 help assist with, presenting to the IRT team for the review, as well as, Department of Children and Families, Department of Mental Health, the Department of Developmental Disabilities, the Department of Youth Services, the Department of Public Health, the Department of Education, the Office of
the Office of the Child Advocate, MassHealth, and the lead educational authority for that youth, as well as MassAbilities when it's needed. The IRT has a dedicated website, which is the Interagency Review Team for Complex Cases, which is, on mass.gov. There's a dedicated email address, as8958 well as a referral that gets directly submitted to that email address and8962 monitored on a regular basis by myself and my team. In conjunction with the reviews, the IRT has access to funding. This is used to be able to ensure that services are able to be accessed in a timely manner while the agencies are kind of working out who who might be funding that in the long term basis. Or if we feel additional testing might need to be done, or there's something missing for that person's service delivery, and we can access funding for an interim basis.
As we continue to work through RT cases, we will be tracking data to better understand youth,8999
SPEAKER2 - but
SPEAKER21 - youth, but these are youth of the Commonwealth, and how do we support them best? I'm gonna give you a brief example of a situation. We had outreach from Cambridge Health Alliance on a young adult who is 18 years of old age on their developmental unit. When he was admitted, his guardians had, abandoned him, basically, and no longer were engaging in his care or making decisions on his behalf. He was not connected to any agency or any community provider. And he had, come from Connecticut into, the school system in Mass and wasn't very well known. So they outreach to us to help with discharge planning because he had been there for quite some time at that that point in time, and they reached out to us in October. We worked really hard to get him DDS services, work with the local school system to, enter into a cost share for a residential placement. And we were able to make referrals to a residential placement. And we were able to access the interim funding to move him9077 along so we wouldn't lose that placement for him. While simultaneously, DDS9081 continues to work towards identifying a guardian for him and then potentially securing the funding, once our interim funding is, up. So that, I think, is a huge success. This is somebody that would have probably, ended up who knows where if they didn't reach out to our team, and we were able to navigate and work through the system, and work together to figure out a solution for him, for now. And then, hopefully, in the future, he'll be, sure it up. I welcome any questions you guys have, and I
SPEAKER1 - thank you for your service, and this is crucial work to coordinate these agencies. Thank you. I have no questions. Does anyone else have questions?
SPEAKER3 - I just wanna make a comment. Thank you, Kim, so much for testifying for us today. I think we think it's very helpful for our committee to get to hear about the work of the IRT. And I imagine there's a lot of questions. Encourage our colleagues to to reach out and get to know the work because we often hear of these stuck cases, and certainly appreciate the work you've done to help so many of the individuals that have been, tied up in ed boarding, without a place9145 to go or a good plan forward. And9147 the the speaks to the collaboration of all the agencies we've heard from today. And so I just wanna thank you again for for testifying and sharing that that information with us.
SPEAKER21 - Yeah. 1 thing I didn't mention, if I could just add that even if it doesn't meet the threshold for the IRT criteria, we do still continue to work and some support the youth and the family to make sure they're getting their needs met. So I don't9169 want people to feel like if they don't meet that threshold, they still can't reach out to us.
SPEAKER7 - That's great.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Yes.
Next, we have commissioner Reardon
from the Department of Youth Services.
SPEAKER6 - Good afternoon, chair Kennedy, chair Livingstone, and distinguished members of the joint committee on children, Families, and Individ I'm sorry, Persons with Disabilities. My name is Cecily Reardon, and I am the Commissioner for the Department of Youth Services. It is a pleasure to appear before the committee today to speak about our department's mission, our priorities, our initiatives, and everything we've got going on currently for fiscal year 20 26. So for those of you who may not be as familiar, as others with us, we are the Commonwealth's Juvenile Justice Agency. And our agency envisions a commonwealth in which every young person has the skills, support, and resources necessary to engage safely with their communities and lead productive and fulfilling lives. Consistent with this vision, we see our mission as fostering positive outcomes for young people, building safer communities, and collaborating for an equitable and fair juvenile justice system. And we ground our work in a certain set of values, and those values start with race equity, they continue with transparency, we look at integrity, and we look at fairness in everything we do. We wanna make sure that everything we do is not just experienced I'm sorry, that it's not just seen on paper as fair, but experienced as fair. We wanna make sure that we're taking into consideration that over 80 of the young people we serve identify as youth of color, and over 50% of our workforce identify as staff persons of color when we take into consideration racial equity as a value. And when we think about transparency, we don't wanna be the wizard of Oz. We wanna9287 make sure that people know what we're doing and why,9289 and that it's very clear and available to9291 folks to understand. And then for integrity, we admit when we get it wrong. We take responsibility and we do better the next time. And so just so that's very clear to folks. And you know what? I'm pleased to report that despite these uncertain times, we remain confident as an agency that we are well positioned to maintain our investments in quality services for young people for each of the populations we serve, and I'll tell you a little bit about those9317 in a moment. And in particular, to really strategically improve and expand individualized diversion services, rehabilitative opportunities for our young people.9327 And to do this in a way that really promotes family9329 engagement because parents are our best partners in this work.
SPEAKER2 - And to really
SPEAKER6 - invest in community support. Our communities need to know that our young people belong to them too. Even after challenges and all kinds of things that may make communities less likely to support our young people. And really, 1 of the things that's most important to us is that we promote a fair and equitable justice system for all. And so, you know, this is something that is is really9354 critically important right now. You9356 know, you've heard from some other agencies about the incredible federal impacts they're facing.9360 And I guess maybe to9362 echo some of the words of, Commissioner Peterson, we are actually in a fortunate position in that we don't rely heavily on federal funding. We are watching some federal funding9371 streams very carefully. For9373 example, we were, impacted by the cuts to farm to table. I I call it farm to table, but it's that that family farm money that comes through title 1 for school lunches and is administered through the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. That did impact us and we're very closely watching our other title 1 school lunch money funding. And of course, we're very closely watching Medicaid because Medicaid, was poised to become we were actually as a state going to be able to seek reimbursement for some transitional services for transitional age young people and young people just transitioning from our residential settings to community settings, that was gonna be for the first time be reimbursable at the federal level. So we're watching that very carefully as well. But really what we're focused on is trying to make sure that we are promoting wellness and safety for our young people and their families, as well as our staff. And really focusing on our new groundbreaking partnerships with our agency and community partners to address the systemic inequities and trauma that are just rife in the young people we serve. So really before highlighting some of our main priorities, I wanted to just describe for folks, if you're not familiar with us, the young people we currently serve. So we serve 5 populations of young people. That may be a shocker to some of you because most people just focus really on our detained and committed populations. But just to give you9452 a quick overview, our young people are aged 12 to 22. And we9456 have, we split our operations into9458 5 geographic regions across the state.9460 And if you start sort of at our front9462 door or just outside our front door, that's our diversion population. So those are young people who we hope will never come into our programs, who are being diverted by the police, by clerk magistrates, by judges, by assistant district attorneys, and going on to work in programs that we are fortunate enough to, to sponsor around the Commonwealth 9 counties. I'll tell you a little bit of more in a second. But that's sort of our our beyond our front door. And then you get a little closer to us with our overnight arrest population. This is a population we serve for cities and towns where young people who've been arrested after court's been closed for the day may may need a placement overnight, maybe over a long weekend. They will come to us and we have sites across the Commonwealth to support that. Then there are traditional populations, young people committed to our care, who we call detained young people, young people committed to our custody, who are here with us for treatment or rehabilitation. So in terms of young people who are detained, those young people, are typically with us anywhere from a matter of hours or could be with us for as long as a year or 2 until their case is resolved. For young people committed to our custody, those young people are usually with us until they turn 18 or perhaps until they turn 21 depending on the severity of the offense they were committed for. And so 1 thing I would like to echo or not echo, but, point out is when I say committed to our custody, I wanna make it clear that we are never parent or legal guardian for a young person. We have right of placement only, so we have to work with families very closely around decisions around around healthcare, around education and all of those things that really should remain with families. So in terms of our censuses, some of you folks may be aware that we've seen really significant declines over the past 10 years in our overall census. While we did see in fiscal year 20 24, some slight increases, we saw about, 10% increase in our detained population and about a 15% increase in our committed population. We're really still at fewer than half the number of young people we saw in fiscal year 20 15. So that's I think really important to know is that even though we're seeing some, some bumps, you know, and some post pandemic growth, we're really and we are at pre9590 our pre pandemic numbers. We really have been in a significant period of decline for many, many years. And really what I can say about that is I think it's it's really testimony to our partnerships and our our work around9603 prevention. And the 1 I wanna really highlight in in terms of that prevention9607 sphere is our work9609 around diversion. We were very fortunate office of the child advocate a9613 few years ago to create diversion learning labs and to actually have evidence based data driven, equitable diversion opportunities9621 for young people across the Commonwealth. And that has continued to grow. We started with 3 sites and now we are at 9 sites. I can
we still need to get some traction in Western Mass. We only have 1 site there. We still need to get some traction in the islands. We only have a site, on the Barnstable that serves the entire Cape right now. So we we do still have some room to grow, but I'm I'm really pleased to report this is now, part of our budget. And in last year, fiscal year 20 24 alone, there were about 347 young people who were referred to this program. That's about twice what were referred in the first couple of years of the pilots. And we're seeing about an 81 percent success rate, successful completion rate. There's about 7 or 8 percent of referrals that don't get variety of reasons. Usually that have nothing to do with the success of that young person. So I think overall that's a really great statistic to share with you. And also in case folks are are, wondering, we are partnering with the office of the attorney general around the diversion programming for young people accused of9683 sexting, just to shorthand that. So, you know, really9687 our successful partnerships around prevention mean that we see9691 a very distilled population of young people. And, you know, much like some9695 of our sister agencies, we are seeing young people9697 who come to us with very significant acute needs that require very specialized staff responses, especially post pandemic. You know, our young people have significant trauma histories and they have very significant trauma reactive behaviors, and that really requires a really sophisticated staff response. And, you know, they and their families overwhelmingly come from economically challenged communities plagued by systemic racism. You know, as I said, over 80% of our young people identify as youth of color. And so 1 of the things we are constantly working to to really call out and and change is to where we can eliminate disparities, mitigate them if we can't eliminate them, but it's really a primary part of our work. We will always see our young people for who they are, and we are never gonna deny who they are, or question, you know, historic fact9750 about how our country has engaged with many of our young people of in their families and our communities, over time. Also important to know that our young people, more than half of them come to us with unmet educational needs, behavioral health needs, and substance
usually, I guess, the good news is that or I don't know if it's good news or bad news. We don't see a lot of chronic significant health issues, but we do see issues you might think of endemic to economic challenges.
9785 That's9785 okay. So in terms of, just to give you a little bit of a picture, over half of our young people have been diagnosed with ADHD. We have about 11 percent of our young people who've been diagnosed with a major mental illness. And about 35 percent of our young people at intake for our detention programs, come with concerns9804 about substance use disorders. And about 86 percent of the young people ultimately committed to us receive substance use treatment for a recognizable substance use disorder. To date, that is still primarily marijuana and not opioids. We are on the younger end of that spectrum and we are very grateful for that, but we are constantly vigilant about that and making sure that our young people get the substance use education and treatment that they need. So, you know, this is this is very, it's a very concentrated population of need. And, you know, where where we are at DYS is is really just committed to making sure that we are gonna meet young people where they are, as I said, and we are gonna respect who they are. Excuse me. And we're gonna be mindful of where they come from, their history, their culture, and their experiences, and take all of that into consideration and hear their voices. You know, we9858 are gonna provide our young people the individualized treatment and support that they and their families need for them to be as successful as possible. So in order to do that, we're making a number of investments in things that we know work. You know, first of9870 all, we're gonna continue to invest in our residential and community based programming to make sure it reflects youth voices and translates into both safety in our programs and in positive community connections. This includes maintaining and strategically
career and, educational, career readiness, and vocational programming. Some of you may be familiar with this, some of you may not. It really begins in our residential settings and it continues when our young people return to their their home communities. We are proud to report in fiscal or actually academic year 2024 that close to a hundred of our young people either achieved a high school diploma or an educational attainment through the HiSET. And we have a comparable number of young people who are continuing and receiving, and continuing in post secondary education. They're taking community college classes. We've had a couple of young people who have achieved, associate's degrees in the past year. It's something that we are very excited about and very excited to partner with our local community colleges around and support. But we also know that many of our young people, that's not their path. That's just it's just not. We know that academics are not the only route to success. And so we've really tried to focus on making sure that we have the vocational opportunities and career readiness partners that we need. So we have a a skill up initiative that we started a couple of years ago, and we've now grown rapidly to 36, providers across the state who provide our young people with everything from mentorship to career readiness and vocational supports and services. Some drawing on, enhanced vocational spaces that we now have in our our facilities. So some of you may have had the opportunity to taste, products from our culinary programming. If you visited the Big E this year, many of this, t shirts that are sold there come through our silk screening project. And, we also have recording studios in a number of our regions, barbershops. We have a salon in 1 of our programs now. And while these might not be the career paths that our young people choose, they are learning very important transferable skills. And we make sure that when our young people leave us, they have something that they can tuck in their back pocket that nobody can ever take away from them. So whether or not they become a barber or whatever, or you know, a bicycle repair shop, they they go into small engine repair or whatever, they will know how to do things that will make them be more successful candidates down the line for whatever their career path is that they choose. So, another thing that I think is important for folks to know that we'll do it working on with our young people is the next phase of our strategic planning is around really reimagining our continuum of services. We are working very hard to look at we're we're working very hard at our residential continuum. We know that young people10028 do better when they're home, with their families, in their communities. And so10032 we're looking at how do we decide how long a young person needs to stay in programming? What services do we need10038 to have in place for that young person to safely and successfully transition home as soon as possible? At this point, we've consulted, I think, over we've had over 40 listening sessions, talked to over 500 constituents of our of ours, including, young people, their families, national experts, our system partners, you name it. We've called out former commissioners to really just get a good sense of what folks think our young people need to be successful. So that's something, really quickly to talk about staff investments. We can't do anything for our young people unless we're investing in our staff. The 3 things I wanna mention very quickly, regional so we have regional mentors. So we have staff who who start with our new staff at our training academy, follow them through that entire first critical year to make sure that they have additional support outside of their programs. These mentors also work with the supervisors in those programs because we saw a significant turnover during the pandemic as many of our partners did nationally and locally. And it it really became incumbent upon us to figure10099 out ways that we could really both recruit and retain staff. And so10103 retaining staff starts with our mentors. We also have a really significant investment. It was a pilot that we started through grant funding, but what we're calling our, now they're now called our employee support specialists. They were originally trauma response specialists. But what these these individuals do is when there's an incident in our programs, they report10122 to that program and they offer support to the staff impacted. Whether10126 it's an incident in our program or actually an incident in the community that impacts our staff involving a young person we've provided services10132 to. And they're not HR, they're not investigators, they're just there to be supportive and to offer trauma related space and services. And so that's something we're really doing to make sure we're recognizing that primary and secondary trauma experienced by our staff to help them wanna stay with us and continue to work with our young people. And then finally, I'll mention in that space,
we've been working very closely with the office of the child advocate around staff wellness spaces, creating a space in each of our programs where our staff can go when they need a moment, when they need to10162 just take a breath, when they need to wash10164 their face, when they need to get a cup of coffee, when they need to make a phone call because things have gotten really hard in our setting. And we wanna make sure our staff have that across the Commonwealth so that they know that we value them, that we support them, and that we are there for them to be the best they can be for our young people. So that's something that we're incredibly proud of. The employee support specialist, just so you know, in the brief time that they've been operating, they've now they've now supported over 630 staff. So that's something also where is very important to us. And just in that partnership space, because I talked a little bit about how we really try to collaborate10200 around ensuring that we have an equitable system. We were also part very fortunate to partner with the Office of the Child Advocate about to create a trauma, race, equity, empowerment academy. So also known as TREAT. This is a, program that trains staff across the secretariat using a curriculum that centers young10220 people, their families, and their experiences with our systems. And it teaches our our staff across10226 the secretariat how to have the difficult conversations, how to
possible for all of our different constituents that we serve. And the first cohort included 50 staff from across 10 different agencies. And those individuals who participated, I got to sign their certificates yesterday. They will bring this10247 curriculum back to their agencies and figure out10249 how to best implement it. So this is just a very quick overview. This is critical work that we really believe will alter the trajectory of the young people we serve. Either before hopefully, even before they ever enter UIS, but as well as support their safe and successful return to our communities. And and it's really the critical support that we believe necessary for our staff to make sure these things happen for our10272 young people. So I really thank you for your time and your attention, and I look forward to working with this entire committee, you10278 know, to fulfill our goals, our sec secretary's core goals, and all of our10282 objectives. So if any folks have any
SPEAKER1 - testimony and for your, very thoughtful approach to both your staff and and the high, needs population to which you serve. I don't have any questions. I don't know know if
SPEAKER3 - Thank you so much.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you. Does anyone else10301 have questions? Alright. Thank you.
SPEAKER4 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Next, executive director, Jen Valenzuela, who10309 is ready from the Children's Trust. I'm sure you all are ready to go too.
SPEAKER10 - So what what happens when you're 1 of the last ones? So good afternoon, chair Livingstone, chair Kennedy, thank you so much for this invitation, and members of the legislation, thank you so much. It is an honor to be able to share with you the Children's Trust strategic plan today and our vision in preventing child abuse and neglect in Massachusetts. My name is Jennifer Valenzuela. I'm the executive director of the Massachusetts Children's Trust, and I'm also a public health clinical social worker who's still working in the pediatric emergency medical system once a month. So I come to this role with both a systems lens and an up close understanding of what families are experiencing on the ground. Before I begin describing the Children's Trust, let me first tell you about a mom that I worked with for years.10355 She had 2 young children. Her oldest had significant medical needs. He was blind and nonverbal and required multiple specialty appointments just10363 to stay healthy and safe. Her10365 second child was still a toddler with her father10367 when their father, her partner, was murdered. After his death, she fell into a deep depression. She was grieving, alone, and trying to raise 2 children under 5 in deep poverty. She10379 had very little family support, and the weight10381 of everything was crushing her. I was her clinician, and I filed reports to10386 DCF for medical neglect over and over again because she couldn't consistently get her son to his appointments. And yet, I knew how deeply she loved her children, fiercely fiercely loved them, more than anyone else could ever. She was not a10400 danger to her kids. She was a mom who needed help. Years later, I'm asking myself, what could10406 I have done differently? Could I have supported10408 her more directly? Could I have received better training as a clinician? Training that would have helped me recognize what trauma, grief, and poverty can do to a parent's capacity. And beyond me, what if the systems10419 around us had worked differently? That mom and so many others like her deserve a system that sees her strengths,10426 not just her struggles. A system built for prevention, not reaction. That's exactly what brought me to the Children's Trust and what has me really excited every single day to do this work that we're working on at building something better for families across Massachusetts. The Children's Trust is the state's only agency dedicated solely to the prevention of child abuse and neglect. We are a public private organization, and our vision is bold. We believe every child in Massachusetts can grow up in a thriving community and family. We believe this is possible. To achieve this vision, we first need to challenge the pervasive belief that abuse and neglect are inevitable. They are not. Prevention is possible, and we know what it takes. It takes stable relationships, economic security, access to supports, and communities that wrap10472 around families instead of isolating them. The Children's Trust partners10476 with community based organizations, state agencies, and philanthropy to strengthen and10481 invest in the systems that support our families. We focus on prevention, and that means going upstream when the crisis are happening. And it means believing that families are not problems to be fixed. They are our partners in building safe and nurturing homes. So what does our work look like? We're best known for overseeing our Healthy Families Massachusetts home visiting program. It's for first time parents that are ages 24 and under, an evidence based program nationally accredited that helps young parents build strong relationships with their babies and sets their families on a healthy path. This year, we served over 2,500 families enrolled in Healthy
SPEAKER2 - Families, and the outcomes speak for themselves with this program. We've seen reduced second reports of
SPEAKER10 - educational and employment outcomes for parents. In fact, for every $1, the Commonwealth invests in healthy families. We see10536 a $3.11 return10538 of investment, for reduced health and child welfare costs. This isn't just a nice program. It's a financially sound investment for the Commonwealth. The Healthy Families is just 1 part of our broader strategy. Our work and home visiting is a powerful example of what's possible when programs are supported by aligned systems. To deepen and sustain this impact, we're collaborating across state agencies to ensure families experience consistent, high quality support no matter where where they enter in our system. Our strategic plan is shifting the children's trust from program level to systems level transformation. How are we doing that? I'm so glad you asked. We have 5 programmatic priorities. We're looking to align state systems, put families at the center, fatherhood, building a training institute for family support workers, child sexual abuse prevention, and reducing 51 a reports for child neglect. The first priority is aligning the systems that support families. The Children's Trust is actively working across agencies to build a more coordinated family centered ecosystem in Massachusetts. This includes our partnership with10603 the Department of Public Health to align home visiting10605 programs statewide, joint efforts with MassHealth and DPH to ensure the successful implementation of community based doula services. We're advancing cross agency
10613 SPEAKER210613 -10613 fatherhood10613 work to strengthen the role of fathers in prevention
SPEAKER10 - and collaborating with the
the Department of Early Ed and Care and Department of Children and Families to shape the future of the family center model. Together, these efforts reflect our belief that preventing child abuse and neglect requires more than strong programs.
Institute based on decades of experience training the home visiting workforce and other family support workers. Our trainings are consistently held up as a model for what a strength based, trauma informed, and family centered training should look like. Last year alone, our training team equipped over 5,000 family support workers with helpful tools and knowledge to better serve the families. We have a vision that 1 day, all family support workers, including including our state employees, have a common approach to families. Our third priority is the fatherhood initiative, where we are continuing to grow our initiative to center fathers, recognizing the powerful role that they play in children's lives and correcting the long
out of the equation. 1 of our partnerships is with the Hampshire County House of Corrections, which began 10 years ago with the nurturing fathers program. Representative Saunders is very familiar with this 1. When fathers are serving time, they can join a 12 week group, which teaches fathers how to build parenting skills and strengthen bonds with their children. So when their jail time is up, they can go home and become the father that they dream to be. Our fourth priority is a statewide effort we are doing in partnership with the Office of Child Advocate to prevent child sexual abuse. We are working with schools, municipal parks and recreation departments, and other youth serving organizations to create environments that protect children and promote healthy boundaries. Our next phase of this work is going a level deeper to reach parents and caregivers, especially those in underserved communities, to make sure they have access to clear, culturally responsive prevention tools. And our fifth priority of our strategic plan is working to transform how the broader ecosystem, our government agencies, our mandated reporters, educators, medical professionals are responding to families. In Massachusetts, too many families are reported to DCF for issues that are really10745 about poverty or lack of support, not abuse or neglect. In10749 fiscal year 24, nearly 93051 a reports were made by mandated reporters and other neighbors and others, And over half of those reports were screened out. Rather than re defaulting to reports, we're advancing a mindset of supporting, encouraging professionals to ask, what does this family need? Instead of, do I need to file a report? We started this conversation last week cohosted by our esteemed chairs, Lisa Kennedy, and, with some of your colleagues. And we were talking with state partners, including commissioner Miller from DCF, secretary Tutwiler from education, commissioner Reardon from DYS, commissioner Goldstein from DPH, commissioner McHugh from DTA, director Masides from OCA, and many more. And to me, it's very clear that many of us across the state of Massachusetts are looking to make a difference for the families of Massachusetts.
Starting salaries for this role in the New England region. I think Rhode Island is at $22 an hour. We have a long ways to go. We're asking for a modest increase10828 to raise the salary floor to $20 an hour, because when a home visitor leaves, 70% of their families10834 are going to leave the program as well. These are trust based relationships, and turnover erodes the impact that we're making. We have the data. We have the outcomes, and we need to invest in the people who are making this possible. So what are we asking for you? We're asking for continued funding because prevention doesn't just save lives, it saves money. We're asking for your partnership because we cannot do this alone. And we're asking for an openness to learn together about what's working, what needs10862 to change, and how we can build a system that sees families as partners, not problems. The Children's Trust is not just a funder. We're a statewide convener, a connector, and a catalyst for change. We're moving toward a future where child abuse and neglect are10876 not just responded to, but prevented. And with your support, I believe we can get there. To truly understand what this looks like in practice, let's go back to the mom that I was telling you about earlier. Let's imagine how things may have been different for her if the sport the supports we're building today had been in place for her then. What if a home visitor from a healthy Families program or another 1 of the DPH home visiting programs was available and in her life from the beginning? Someone who could have met with her in her home, built a trust, helped walk with her through those impossible moments, even helping her get to the doctor's appointments for her son? What if I had been trained more through the training institute, equipped not just to identify risk, but to see strengths and to support her in a way that preserved her dignity and met her needs? What if fatherhood programs had reached her partner before he was killed, offering connection, support, and perhaps a different path forward? And what if our systems were better aligned so that medical care, mental health services, parenting support, and grief counseling didn't live in separate silos that overwhelmed her, but came together in 1 coordinated nets of support? And what if instead of being a mandated reporter, I had been part of a culture that embraced supporting first? Where the first question we asked was not, do I need to file? But it was, what does this family need and how do I find it for her? Her story is not unusual, but it is unacceptable, and10957 it's why we're doing this work, to shift the system from reactive to proactive, from fragmented to aligned, from punitive to supportive, because prevention is possible, and families like her deserve nothing but better nothing less. In closing, our vision is not just a road map for the Children's Trust. It's a call to action for each and every 1 of us and invites all of us to reimagine what prevention can look like in Massachusetts. We are grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with you, and we look forward to continuing our shared work to ensure every family in Massachusetts has access to support. Thank you10991 for your leadership, for your partnership, and your commitment to the well-being of children and families across the Commonwealth. Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you10999 for your testimony and and for your work, and I always enjoy our conversations and the conversations that you're starting to improve services and look forward to continue to work with you. I have no questions.
SPEAKER18 - Thank you. Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Anyone else? Okay. Thank you. Next we have commissioner Miller from TCF.
SPEAKER2 - Good
SPEAKER22 - afternoon. Almost evening. Yeah. Alright. So thank you, chair Kennedy, chair Livingstone, and members of the joint committee on children and families and persons with disabilities. My name is Severn Miller, and I'm the commissioner for the Department of Children and Families. Thank you for the opportunity to provide, an agency update on at this informational today. I'm grateful for our strong partnership. It really has helped us, to be able to sit at the table
SPEAKER2 - with you and discuss
SPEAKER22 - the complexities of our agency and
family. And it also11062 aligns with the administration's support, that they would like to11066 see happen for families that we serve in the commonwealth. So thank you. We currently serve 33,000 children and young adults. Of those, 80% of the families that we work with remain at home with and with their11081 children. The11083 other 20%, which is about 6,500 children, are in some alternative placement like foster care or some other congregate care setting. We work with families and caregivers to really engage in services that will help them to support, them better caring for their families and for them to be able to prosper together. If not possible, we really search for family members or, adults who they're familiar with because we recognize that it's important for kids to be able to stay in their communities and to be with people who they're familiar with. And when that's possible, it really helps them to, stabilize, and then possibly move home, earlier if they've been removed from their family situation. So we try to see ourselves as a kin first11132 organization, where we're11134 really looking at kin, to be11136 able to support us in our work. The areas that we, primarily see families are struggling with here in the Commonwealth are substance use disorder, mental health challenges, and domestic violence. And that11150 those 3 areas place kids at the greatest risk for safety, and those are and those are the things that we often see. For us, our case load that we've negotiated is 15.1, but we've been, happily at 13.2, families per social worker. And for us, that's great, because it allows the social workers to really connect with the families and get them connected to services that can support them and their children.
In recent years, we've really focused on our case management strategies to safe and we've been able to safely reduce our case flow by 19% since the start of this administration. And our goal, again, is really to make sure that we are working with the right families. As you as you've heard from others today, I think we think it's important that, there are community services available for families, as opposed to them, having to engage with the state agency in order to, be safe in their communities. And along with, our work around, the way we work with families, we've also, improved our staff recruitment and retention initiatives that also have helped us to keep our caseload at, caseload level or lower. Policies for us are really important, and, we've continued to revise and review policies, as needed. And so right now, we are in the process of updating about 9 policies that need updating. And if you know anything about our policies, they've some of them are old, but we're happy that our policy team is very focused on doing that. 2 of the areas that we're working
SPEAKER2 - on is our protective
SPEAKER22 - intake policy and our case practice policy. Also, this late this spring, we are gonna be implementing our safety and danger and assessment tool, which really will allow us to have some consistency, consistency, and and equity in the way that we are assessing the danger and safety needs of children.
We have continued to strengthen our case practice related to our older youth in foster care. And really what that means for us is that kids can stay, working with us until age 23, and we really changed11293 our message around how we talk to them11295 about using us as a support as they transition into adulthood. And so last year, 77 percent11302 of our youth either remained or11304 came back, to you utilize the services that we have. We've continued to develop new service strategies and that we've done through listening to the youth to understand what they needed. And so 1 of the things that we did in the last year is that we, created a well web based independent living curriculum. For them, what kids talked about is that it was, you know, having to get to a computer, but being able to use their phone was just a place of comfort and a way that they could, develop some skills without having to engage 1 on 1 with folks. So we continue to explore different ways that we can support them.
Over a 50 young people are utilizing our federal vouchers across the Commonwealth, and we are, grateful for that, for the housing vouchers that we have. And I would say that no matter what, who it is, whether it's a young a younger person or older person, we're really looking to help them with reunification, adoption, or guardianship, and ensuring that they have some support in their life to help them to, be, great members of the community. 1 of the things that we've been working on is just our prevention strategies and just thinking about, how prevention what it means for the department. And so this month, we relaunched our support and stabilization services, which really has provided a variety of services that we can now, make available to families. We were able to really11399 look at what communities were11401 underserved and, try to bring services very excited about it. And, thus far, we've heard some great news, that, it's been very, impactful. And so we will, look for more good news around our support and stabilization. At the same time, the 33 family resource centers that serve thousands of families has also been helpful to families in the Commonwealth. So as we see our caseload decrease, that's impacted by our opportunity to, 1, provide support and stabilization services, but what the family resource centers do to help families. And they provide a lot of direct services to them. 1 of the things that we would like to see, hopefully bring to the Commonwealth is a warm line, which is very similar to our 2 1 1. But it really is an opportunity for us to be able11453 to, have any individual call and make referrals for families,11457 so that we can decrease child maltreatment and help families to get those services again without having to have, the Department of Children and Families involved unless it's absolutely necessary. We are proud that we've continued to support, our youth around Social Security benefits with our ABLE accounts. At this point, we've opened up 430 ABLE accounts. And with that, we've deposited $2,800,000 thus far. We are continuing to invest in resources for children who face long, placement, needs. And so by doing that, we've been working with the juvenile courts on improving how we address any permanency challenges in our role and making sure that kids can move, through adoption and guardianships. We're also working with the National Center for Diligent Recruitment, and they've really been talking with us about how we can improve our recruitment efforts around, looking at families to work to, foster, adopt, or do kinship. In addition, we've been working with the Dave Thomas Foundation, and they are providing training and technical support for us to do child focused recruitment. So really looking at our kids who may be in congregate care and really changing outcomes for them around permanency. And lastly, our work is going ongoing. It relates to service needs of children and child welfare11543 system, and specifically those with behavioral health conditions or other challenges. And we continue to work, with EOHHS and our sister agencies on, problem solving on how we can, better serve our more challenging youth that we have. And I thank you for this opportunity to
SPEAKER1 - Well,
SPEAKER2 - Well,
SPEAKER1 - thank you for your testimony, and thank you for, the work. You know, we you and I just had a very long conversation. Yeah. So I I don't have any particular questions, but I I know others might.
SPEAKER3 - No. Thank you again. And and I think it speaks to the partnership we have with DCF, and your11587 relationship with us, particularly as chairs to that, we, I think, have most of our questions answered in the ongoing work.11593 So thank you.
SPEAKER18 - Thank you. If I if
SPEAKER2 - I could, what is the,
SPEAKER8 - operational budget that you have right now, and what is11599 is there an ask this session again in terms of the how much money you need to run the agency?
SPEAKER22 - So I'm gonna try to make sure I get this right, but it's 1.5 mil billion.
SPEAKER16 - Thank you. Do not take a look over it
SPEAKER22 - for that statement. Yes. And, and that is sufficient for us this year to, meet the needs of the families that we're serving.
SPEAKER4 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Representative Sullivan Alameda.
SPEAKER18 - Mister chairman. Thank you, commissioner. And this might be a further conversation that maybe you and I can have. But some of the things that have been brought to my attention more recently than not is around your actual employees. Right? The case workers that deal with, the complaints that are filed against families that go out and do the investigations on child abuse allegations and neglect. And the concern is what safeguards are put in place to protect those workers from false allegations of child abuse themselves. So, I guess, to maybe clarify, if you have a a social worker that goes out to a home that has been, brought to your to your caseload regarding child abuse and neglect, and it's founded that there might be child abuse and neglect in this further11672 investigation. And now that social worker is now being targeted by that parent or that that caregiver, and false allegations of abuse on their family is now being reported to your office. I know from having conversations, it gets transferred out, but what safeguards are put in place to really protect those workers from, abuse or, harassment from individual cases that they have been assigned to. Is there any safeguards in place? What can we maybe do as legislators to11704 protect those state workers who are doing kind of the the the thankless job at times on protecting our most vulnerable, the youth in our in our commonwealth?
SPEAKER22 - So I would be happy to talk to you about this, offline. But I would just say in general that we do try to make sure that our social workers have training on, you know, how to deescalate situations. And then, we are all we have our own safety committee, and so we're talking about the challenges that individual workers or11735 in different communities they may be facing. So, you know, if we I heard someone say
lot of cell service. And so we've been instrumental in making sure that there was a process where we could make sure that workers have a way of communicating. So whenever we're hearing anything like this, we're always thinking about ways that we11755 can problem solve. And I would be happy that if there's something that is beyond the scope of what we can do, bringing it back to this group and asking, for assistance on that.
SPEAKER18 - Yeah. I know that 1 of the concerns is and I I apologize. I know it's getting late, and a lot of people are probably eager to kinda end the day. But, 1 of the concerns is around, obviously, privacy, you know, when it comes to the different clients that you guys, interact with and their privacy. But then, how does a social worker then who's being maybe being harassed outside of their job scope right now, their family is being targeted or somehow,
what what because from what I'm hearing is that there's somewhat of a, unfortunate disconnect because of HIPAA that they're not allowed to go and get restraining orders against, say, individuals. And I know this might be more of an offline conversation that you and I maybe can have or someone within your department11811 we could have.
SPEAKER22 - I'd be happy to
SPEAKER18 - have see what we can do here in the legislator that11815 might kind of give a an exemption to those workers that might be being harassed both, in their work life, but also in their private and personal11826 life that affects not just them but also11828 their families? Yeah.
11830 SPEAKER2211830 -11830 So11830 we, we can definitely11832 talk about this, but I would say that we have a general11835 counsel and legal representation for our staff. So when these circumstances come up, there is a way for us to to, help them and support them. And we do not discourage people from getting a restraining order if they11847 need 1, and so there's a process for us11849 to do that. I think as, state employees being able to, not have your address, you know, out in the public is always gonna be helpful for us to be able to do that. But we do work with a younger generation that also, like social media. Right. And so, you know, we've had to11869 talk about how to protect ourselves even in those circumstances around Are are
SPEAKER18 - your workers exempt from11875 the the disclosure of, addresses? We are
SPEAKER22 - not. Okay.
SPEAKER18 - None of us. Maybe that's something that the committee maybe can look into then. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you, mister chairman.
SPEAKER1 - No problem. Any other questions? Thank you.
SPEAKER22 - Alright. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER1 - Finally, we have the OCA, Maria Musales.
Last but not least.
SPEAKER16 - Welcome. Thank you.
SPEAKER11 - Good afternoon, to the chairs and to the committee members. I'm Maria Masaitis, and I'm the director of the Office of the Child Advocate. As all of you know, the OCA is an independent executive branch agency. Our role is to ensure that children receive appropriate, timely, and quality11924 state services while identifying gaps and making recommendations11928 to improve systems, policies, and practices. The OCA has a staff of 32 full time employees. When I started, we had 3. So I wanna particularly thank the legislature, for your support in enabling us to, grow the OCA. Our budget in fiscal year 24 was 8,900,000.0, including 300 3,750,000.00 dedicated to the center on child well-being and trauma, and 1,550,000.00 for pass through earmarks. To achieve our goal of providing effective oversight, producing high quality policy analysis, and collaborating with our partners in state government to launch innovative pilot projects and staff training initiatives, the OCA has established 3 divisions, and I briefly wanna touch on them. First, our quality assurance team helps families navigate complex state systems. Anyone who has questions or concerns about a child who is receiving services or should be receiving services can call our e or email our complaint line. Our team of experienced clinicians can review complicated situations and help resolve problems for your constituents. Our team also reviews critical incidents reports, which occur when a child receiving state services suffers a fatality, serious emotional, or physical injury. Finally, we review foster care, review safety alerts, as well as supported reports of abuse and neglect in out of home settings and licensed programs where children are receiving services. If we identify a significant concern, the OCA will immediately follow-up with the agency to ensure that it is addressed. In rare cases when a child dies and the actions or inactions of a state agency were egregious, we conduct a public investigation to understand what happened and identify steps the Commonwealth12053 can take to prevent future tragedies. Second, our center on child well-being and trauma supports child serving state agencies and their providers in becoming trauma informed and responsive. Our staff train and partner with state agencies to ensure that they have the tools and skills to support children who have experienced trauma. And finally, our policy and implementation team studies common and persistent problems in our child serving systems. We use data driven research to identify needed reforms and recommend policy changes. With our agency partners, we also launch and evaluate pilot projects, like our youth diversion partnership with the Department of Youth Services.
The Department of Children and Families or involvement with the juvenile justice system. This is why an act regarding families and children in need of assistance is so important. This bill came out of a 2 year study from state's juvenile justice policy and data board, which the OCA chairs. This bill would reform the child requiring assistance system to ensure that youth and families who are in need of support are better able to access it without going at through a needless, lengthy, and potentially harmful court process. To achieve this, we need to bolster our network of family resource centers. There were 33 FRCs across the state. The OCA has studied family resource centers and12162 know that they do incredible work. And with additional funding, support, and reorganization, they can do so much more. FRCs need your support in this bill, but especially in this very difficult budget climate. Second, I urge your support for an act relative to training mandated reporters. Although Massachusetts
SPEAKER2 - law requires
SPEAKER11 - mandated reporters who are professionally licensed by the commonwealth to
SPEAKER2 - requires mandated reporters who
SPEAKER11 - are professionally licensed by the commonwealth to participate in training on their mandatory reporting12192 responsibilities. The law does not otherwise specify how often they must be trained12198 or what training curriculum meets the legal requirements.
O the OCA launched a few years ago as a result of a request and has been used by over 15,00012220 professionals to date. But they could also take a training approved12226 by the OCA. By setting these training standards, the bill aims to ensure that all mandated reporters receive high quality relevant training to better fulfill their reporting responsibilities. Third, I wanna talk about an act enhancing child welfare protection, otherwise known as the child welfare omnibus bill. The tragedies of David Amen and Harmony Montgomery, both cases that the OCA investigated, highlight the need for additional accountability measures within the child welfare system to better protect children, families, and foster parents. The omnibus bill makes updates to the OCA statute to reflect the OCA's current role and enhances the OCA's responsibility. This bill makes a number of changes to the DCF statute as well, including establishing data collection and reporting requirements recommended through the commission that the OCA co chaired with the commissioner of child of the Department of Children and Families. The bill also requires changes to the child fatality review statute, which we have been advocating for years. I want to note that my 10 year term as the Commonwealth's child advocate ends later12305 on this year. I am very proud of the office I will be leaving behind, and I would like to see some of the12313 most effective practices and innovation we have implemented over the course of my term. I hope that you will support this bill, because this bill will implement many of the recommendations that I have now worked on. Thank you for your time, and I welcome your questions.
SPEAKER1 - Well, thank you for your testimony, but also thank you for your service. It's amazing how you've transformed, that office and, the great work that you do. Thank you for pitching the bills that either senator Kennedy or myself filed or both. We look we look forward to working with you on those, and, I just appreciate your work. I don't have any questions.
SPEAKER3 - I just
SPEAKER1 - Actually, I I have 1 question. You referenced the diversion program that you're working with, DYS on. I forgot to ask the commissioner of Reardon. What's the 1 county that you don't work with?
SPEAKER11 - 2 more12371 counties that we don't work with. Right? So it's you want you're gonna remember12375 these, and I'm not going to.
SPEAKER6 - We don't have currently a program
SPEAKER21 - in Berkshire, Franklin, or Hampshire
SPEAKER3 - Counties, and
SPEAKER21 - we don't have 1
SPEAKER2 - in Dukesville.
SPEAKER1 - Thank you.
SPEAKER2 - So
SPEAKER11 - it's the Western part of the state, unfortunately.
SPEAKER18 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - In the Eastern.
SPEAKER3 - That's in Dukesville. Yep.
SPEAKER9 - Yes. Other questions?
SPEAKER3 - Well, thank you so much. And I I just wanna echo it. It's been peaks and valleys today. Good news and some some rough news before. So thank you. And and, again, thank you for your service and and really bringing this office to life. And I think it actually speaks to, the partnership we've had with you that these bills that you're talking about now are bills that that we filed and that we've been able to work with you to to continue through last session in this so far to get to a place where hopefully, we will, be able to move it forward. So thank you again, and thank you to your whole team.
SPEAKER13 - Thank you.
SPEAKER1 - Are there any questions?
SPEAKER16 - No? Okay. Alright.
SPEAKER1 - Well, with that, the committees the hearings adjourned.