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This article was published 11 year(s) and 3 month(s) ago

Local parents put support behind DCF head

ktaylor

March 3, 2014 by ktaylor

LYNN – As Department of Children and Families Commissioner Olga Roche has recently come under fire for possible missing children, parents from the Lynn Community Connections Coalition said it?s really a broken system to blame.A group of 10 parents struggling to gain custody of their children agreed at a regular meeting of the Nurturing Parent program Friday that calling for the commissioner?s resignation would solve nothing.Christine Lindsey, a Lynn parent fighting for custody rights for her 8-month-old daughter after losing two other children due to her past addictions to drugs, said after meeting Roche personally at a state forum for DCF parents, she felt that she was attentive and understanding to her needs.?When she said she would address our concerns I believed her, and I don?t believe a lot of people in authority,” said Lindsey. She added, “How can you blame it on Roche? She?s only one person.”Fellow parent Deanna Brogna, who also met Roche at the forum, said there was no way Roche was aware of the problems in the DCF system being at the top. Brogna said the system “has been broken, and everyone is throwing (Roche) under the bus.”Brogna had the other parents nodding when she described how many DCF parents were afraid of their social workers. “We tell them things and they use it against us. We just want their help,” said Brogna.Messah Jones, a Lynn mother, said her baby, Aidan, was taken from her because police falsely accused her of walking in a park naked after dark last summer. She now attends the Nurturing Parent program as a court mandate to get her baby back. Jones said from her seat at the meeting that she often questions whether foster parents are abusing her child. Messah said she “just wanted the whole world to see the real story.”?DCF?s job is supposed to be to keep families together, but they really break families up,” said Brogna.Program director Pam Freeman said because the system is so broken, advocacy groups like hers “do more with families getting them here than they would get in one visitation” with a social worker.Lindsey, Brogna and other parents said they believed if DCF parents were to rally behind Roche, she would to listen to more advocacy groups and make changes in the system.?I truly believe she is doing everything in her power to help the kids,” said Brogna. “If Olga could reach out to parents, she could get more insight – our point of view instead of social workers all the time. We could get her better information of what?s going on.”Freeman suggested to the group to stand on the State House steps in support of Roche. “If you take a strong asset out of the equation, the parents would feel the brunt,” she said. “If you take the commissioner out, it won?t solve the problem.”

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