Letter to the Boston Globe written by MHLAC’s Executive Director, Phillip Kassel, and Legislative Advocacy Director/Family Law Project Supervising Attorney, Katherine Nemens in response to the Globe’s editorial that acknowledges the death of A’zella Ortiz, a child whose family had numerous interventions with the Department of Children and Families before her death (“Why couldn’t DCF save A’zella Ortiz’s life?,” Dec. 16th, 2025).
Both the editorial and our letter to the editor conclude that keeping families together, and preventing separation, is the most effective means at preventing future deaths.
Trying to make some kind of sense out of a tragic DCF case
The reaction should not be to remove more kids from their families
We are all horrified at the death of A’zella Ortiz and the abuse suffered by her siblings. What went wrong in this case should certainly be determined and addressed. We agree, however, with the Globe editorial board that it should not prompt more children to be removed from their homes to suffer the trauma of separation from their families and the negative effects of state intervention (“Why couldn’t DCF save A’zella Ortiz’s life?” Dec. 16). A strong reactive impulse of this sort often follows such tragedies — what child welfare system critics call “foster care panic.”
Such panic here would exacerbate an existent tendency. The Department of Children and Families places children in foster care at a higher rate, and keeps them there longer, than the national average, with removals disproportionately affecting Black and brown families. As the Globe noted, the vast majority of confirmed reports of child maltreatment are not for abuse but, rather, for neglect, and are often rooted in the unavoidable consequences of poverty.
A focus on out-of-home placement is reflected in DCF spending. Less than 10 percent of the DCF budget is earmarked for “Family Support and Stabilization,” while most of its more than $1.5 billion budget funds out-of-home placements (for example, nearly half a billion for congregate care).
The harm arising from this emphasis is not limited to the trauma of separation. Some children suffer neglect and even serious abuse in Massachusetts’ foster or congregate care settings. For many others, long-term outcomes underscore why removal should be used only as a last resort. Youth in state custody drop out of high school at more than twice the rate of their peers, are five times less likely to get a college degree, and are more apt to become criminally involved. One-third who age out of DCF custody experience homelessness by age 21.
It would be a profound irony if failures to keep some children safe drive responses that place many others at risk and diminish their futures. An emphasis on preventive services that address the impact of poverty would protect more kids more effectively.
Phillip Kassel
Executive Director
Kate Nemens
Legislative Advocacy Director and Supervising Attorney
Family Law Project
Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee