Massachusetts News
By Edward G. Oliver

February 1--A 17-year-old ward of the DSS attempted to rape a 7-year-old son of his new foster mother less than seven hours after he was placed in the home in Attleboro, according to press reports.

The Commissioner of DSS, Jeffrey Locke, was "outraged," says the Boston Herald. 

Attleboro Office In Trouble

A veteran social worker at the Attleboro DSS office says that that office has been having trouble for a long time in keeping any foster parents because of the way they are treated by the staff. He says the office has also been plagued by poor decision-making, lack of supervision and low morale.

The letter, which was written to a state legislator in September and has been in the possession of Massachusetts News since November, has added significance in the wake of the incident. 

"My supervisor hasn’t supervised me in over ten years," wrote the long-time DSS employee, explaining his unit has the worst morale in the entire office. He hoped the state rep "will help protect me from their vengeful wrath" for calling attention to problems at the Attleboro DSS.

The social worker wrote how his office had lost a foster parent two years before who was mistreated by a DSS contract agency. The parent was "grievously wounded – worried over the welfare of the kids [and] left in sorrow and disgust." 

In another instance, the social worker wanted the regional office to review a case decision he didn’t agree with. "They ignored my letters to have the case looked at. For my interest in these matters I was summarily suspended." The worker was warned not to go outside of the lines of communication or he would be subject to disciplinary action. He expressed his bewilderment at his treatment for trying to "keep up the morale of the foster parents so that our kids can have foster homes to go to if they need them."

Disliked by Foster Parents

He wrote how his supervisor was "intensely disliked" by many of the foster parents. "He is abrasive and abrupt on a frequent basis when he speaks to them." The social worker’s job evaluations began to suffer, he said, after he would call attention to problems. In a twist of irony, the worker then complained of similar treatment many parents encounter who lose their children to DSS. Often parents are presented Service Plans containing bizarre, unsubstantiated accusations. Describing his job evaluations after voicing disagreement with his DSS bosses, the social worker wrote, "I have received two more evaluations and they are markedly different from my prior evaluations. These evaluations persist in dwelling on a specie of weird unsubstantiated innuendo."

The social worker wrote he was not getting help from people above his supervisor and appealed to the state rep for help. "I am appealing to you. I really can’t understand how a person who is not doing his job can be defended by the Director when a person who is working hard and really caring is denigrated. It is a case of the bad driving out the good. I hope you can help. I am determined not to be victimized by a lazy and vindictive supervisor and an indifferent local office administration protecting its ‘sacred cows.’

"There are a number of issues involving decision making in our office that severely impact foster parent morale and casework processes and even employee morale. Lousy morale in the organization leads to bad or lackluster job performance. It is no wonder that the average age of a DSS worker is 25 or so. There are attitudinal problems that result when bureaucrats forget that foster parents are people who need support. These kinds of problems arise when organizations forget that they were organized to serve and do a job."

The youth who is alleged to have committed the crime is Corey Saunders, who was charged with "Assault with Attempt to Rape" and "Indecent Assault and Battery on a Child under 14."

The youth was placed in the home by DSS on Dec. 31st after he was refused readmission to a holding facility in Taunton he had left without permission. He has been in DSS custody since the age of twelve.
 

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