A retired Massachusetts juvenile court judge is seeking a federal investigation into the Department of Children and Families, saying she fears a pattern of discrimination against children with disabilities.
A 56-page request for a civil rights investigation sent to the Massachusetts US Attorney by Carol Erskine, a former Worcester County judge, pointed to the deaths of three children in alleging that DCF violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“These three cases that I highlight are not isolated tragedies,” said Erskine in an interview Friday. “When they’re viewed together they reveal a disturbing and repeated pattern.”
Erskine has been a vocal critic of the child welfare system’s failures that contributed to the death of Harmony Montgomery, a 5-year-old whose father was convicted of her 2019 killing in New Hampshire. Erskine published a book about the case in 2024 and has worked closely with the couple who adopted Harmony’s brother.
The request for an investigation highlighted the deaths of Montgomery, David Almond, and A’zella Ortiz, children with documented physical or developmental disabilities or mental health needs that Erskine said weren’t given needed evaluations, services, or appropriate placements. Instead, she wrote, the state agency prioritized keeping families together without taking into account the children’s unique needs.
Even the act of moving a child to multiple placements, Erskine said, could be considered a failure to respond to children’s disabilities, because of the trauma a lack of consistency can cause. In the case of David, a Fall River 14-year-old with autism who died in his father’s care, DCF reunited the boy and his father without having a plan for specific services, including therapy, in place.
Erskine also sent the request to the federal Department of Justice and the offices of the Massachusetts Governor and Attorney General, she said.
The US Attorney’s office for the District of Massachusetts said it had not received Erskine’s request, though Erskine shared a receipt that showed her request had been received by mail. Federal lawyers will typically not publicly confirm whether or not they chose to move forward with an investigation after receiving such a request.
DCF did not respond to a request for comment.
Harmony had complex Medicaid needs, including physical and motor limitations and blindness in one eye. DCF put the girl on a wait list for services, Erskine wrote, which contributed to a deterioration of her condition. Ultimately, Harmony was left in the custody of her father in Manchester, N.H., despite evidence another home might have been safer. Though Montgomery was killed in 2019 shortly after her involvement with DCF ended, her death wasn’t discovered by authorities until 2021.
Her father, Adam Montgomery is appealing the conviction.
An investigation after Harmony’s death conducted by the Office of the Child Advocate, a watchdog agency that reviews DCF’s work, identified serious failings at several points within the child welfare system. Among them, DCF failed to fully vet the father or ensure he was meeting his goals as a parent. The judge handling the case, Mark Newman, didn’t request a mandated assessment of Montgomery’s fitness to raise Harmony, the report said.
David, 14, died in 2020 of malnutrition and neglect while in the custody of his father, John Almond. Almond, and Jaclyn Coleman, his girlfriend, both pleaded guilty to killing the boy.
DCF received numerous warnings that David was at risk, including a juvenile court determination that his father was “unfit to care” for his children, the OCA investigation found. David had been living at a congregate care facility that specialized in supporting children with autism, and providers from that facility also raised concerns about the boy returning to his father. Among the failures Erskine cites, DCF didn’t ensure David received appropriate services during his transition to his father’s home, or in the seven months prior to his death.
A’zella, of Worcester, was 4 when she died in 2024 of multiple blunt force injuries. Her father, Francisco Ortiz, is charged with her death. She was developmentally disabled and nonverbal, according to the OCA investigation, and DCF’s plan for the girl included speech evaluation and early intervention services. The OCAs investigation into her case revealed her caretakers consistently failed to follow through on obtaining the medical and developmental support she needed. DCF also failed to act on numerous warning signs that she and her two siblings were subject to ongoing neglect at home.
Based on OCA investigations, Erskine wrote that the children weren’t evaluated properly, didn’t obtain early interventions, and either failed to receive timely therapeutic services, or didn’t receive them at all. The state didn’t supervise the children properly, she argued, and didn’t act on its responsibility to effectively supervise children with disabilities.
DCF’s involvement with Harmony and A’zella’s families ended before the girls’ deaths. The agency still had an open case with David’s family when he died.
Federal involvement is needed, Erskine wrote, because OCA investigations don’t provide detailed access to DCF records, including internal communications, supervisory deliberations, and legal consultations. She wants federal investigators to clarify whether DCF shows systemic bias against children with disabilities, and, if so, whether that is a result of indifference or intentional noncompliance with federal civil rights laws. She also questioned whether the legal system itself is doing what it should to ensure children’s disabilities are being taken into account.
“Critical information concerning internal decision-making, policy application, and funding compliance remains shielded from public scrutiny,” Erskine wrote.
Jason Laughlin can be reached at jason.laughlin@globe.com. Follow him @jasmlaughlin.