Deceased/Not Found NH - Harmony Montgomery, 7, Manchester, Oct 2019 *reported missing Dec 2021* *REWARD* *Arrest* #2

[Seattle1]

* Paywalled Article (no copy/paste per WS rules)

JAN 11, 2022
Prior to Harmony Montgomery’s disappearance, a series of police visits and a father’s history of violence - The Boston Globe

• 2008 - AM broke into an apt in Malden, demanded money from two women at gunpoint, and held a weapon to one of their necks. When LE detained AM and a man with him, AM pointed the gun at an officer before being wrestled to the ground. It was later determined to be a pellet gun.

• 2010 - AM pled guilty to armed robbery and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for the 2008 incident.

• 2021 - AM was prosecuted in Manchester for stalking KM and her three children and resisting arrest. He received a one-year sentence that was suspended for two years and ordered to undergo mental health counseling.

This is so disturbing!

I'm wondering if the suspended sentence in 2021 was due in part to covid and inmate issues.

 

[MimosaMornings]

JAN 14, 2022
Harmony Montgomery's mother says her pleas were disregarded (boston.com)
[...]

Sorey said in an interview with the Globe she began searching for her daughter in 2019 after Adam and Kayla blocked her from contacting them.

She went in and out of sober homes and shelters after she lost custody, but reports filed in court indicate Sorey has since been sober.

Sorey told the newspaper she called schools in New Hampshire where she thought Harmony may be a student, used paid internet search tools to gather addresses connected to Adam, and tried repeatedly to contact DCYF before she contacted Manchester police.

“I didn’t just sit around and say, ‘Oh, they took my daughter, I’m just going to get high, man,’ ” she said. “By the time detectives got involved, I had probably about 16 e-mails [full] of information for them already … because I had already been looking for her for a year and a half.”

[...]

“However, the process is standard in “critical” cases involving children and he is confident DCYF has stayed on top of this one, he said.

“As soon as we found out that this child may not have been showing up for school for quite some time, it was reported up to us, the team got right on it,” the governor said. “There wasn’t a delay. It didn’t sit in a file on somebody’s desk. They moved right on it, which I give them credit for.”

There was a delay of almost two years?

CS has made over 80 phone calls, thought she had contacted DCFY and police? Plus other family members.

 

[Seattle1]

How could Adam collect welfare money for Harmony if she wasn't in the system? And why would a child need to be in the system for DHHS to take a complaint of child abuse?

I don't think we have any evidence that AM collected "welfare money" for HM.

To my knowledge, the only reported evidence is that KM collected SNAP benefits (food) for HM which were officially terminated in June 2021 when KM reported she no longer lived with the family. (Only KM charged for illegally claiming benefits 11/2019 - 6/2021).

Beginning 2020, many individuals "not in the system" qualified for SNAP due to Covid. It's a federal food program that's administered by the state DHHS.

 

[HilaryHormone]

CS has indicated that AM was not interested in co-parenting HM so I think it's likely that AM was having visits with AM while she was in foster care (no longer in CS home). Typically, a child is in foster care at the time the parent officially loses legal custody of the child -- in this case July 2018. It was about six months later that AM awarded to her dad.

From @PommyMommy's timeline:

I’m aware of the timeline PommyMommy has kindly put together, I guess I’m wondering where the therapy fit in terms of assessment and planning rather than chronologically. CS has stated that Harmony alluded to abuse in AM’s care if that’s the case, it implies downright negligence on child services part if the alleged disclosures were not followed up on prior to her being placed with AM full time.

I understand Harmony was likely having contact with AM throughout, but IMO the reports that she was ‘bouncing in and out of foster care’ imply something more than time limited contact, which is what leads me to wonder whose care she was in when she was out of foster care.

Therapy itself would surely be part of multi agency intervention and support, so there should be records of the sessions somewhere that the public obviously won’t be privy to, but LE and other relevant investigating bodies will as they try to determine where exactly things unravelled for poor Harmony.

Someone commented that ‘most’ children in foster care receive therapy (I can’t quote the post on my phone for some reason, sorry). That’s mind blowing to me, especially for a pre-school age child who isn’t demonstrating distressed behaviour or severe delayed development. Again, I’m making the assumptions Harmony wasn’t because I haven’t read otherwise in the information available to me. It’s not a standard service we provide where I’m from, sadly we just don’t have the resources.
That’s partly why I post and read WS though, to understand how the system works in other countries.

 

[HilaryHormone]

* Paywalled Article (no copy/paste per WS rules)

JAN 11, 2022
Prior to Harmony Montgomery’s disappearance, a series of police visits and a father’s history of violence - The Boston Globe

• 2008 - AM broke into an apt in Malden, demanded money from two women at gunpoint, and held a weapon to one of their necks. When LE detained AM and a man with him, AM pointed the gun at an officer before being wrestled to the ground. It was later determined to be a pellet gun.

• 2010 - AM pled guilty to armed robbery and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for the 2008 incident.

• 2021 - AM was prosecuted in Manchester for stalking KM and her three children and resisting arrest. He received a one-year sentence that was suspended for two years and ordered to undergo mental health counseling.

The 2021 charge is another missed opportunity for Harmony. This wee girl was a ghost from the time she went to live with AM.

I've been struggling to understand the particular sequence here. IMO, there's no way AM was investigated at all prior to custody being given.

I just did a digital Boston Globe subscription so I can follow this more closely from the MA perspective because that's my state and I'm genuinely disturbed by the actions of MA DCF based on what I have heard to date.

I recall reading about MA using some kind of exception process for the awarding of custody to AM which meant there was no background or other check into him and no ICPC in place. I'm trying to piece it together as someone who knows zilch about family law.

Boston Globe articles
1/5
"Harmony spent at least part of her earliest years in a Massachusetts shelter with her mother ...It remains unclear how Montgomery was deemed a suitable guardian for the child in the first place....He was charged in Massachusetts with armed robbery, armed assault to murder, carrying a firearm without a license, and discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building....Juvenile court records are confidential in Massachusetts, so there is no public paper trail that would explain the reasoning used in awarding custody to Adam Montgomery."

1/6
"On Thursday, for the second straight day, Massachusetts officials offered little or no insight into the state juvenile court’s decision in February 2019 to place Harmony in the custody of her father. Montgomery has a lengthy criminal history, including a 2014 conviction for shooting a man in the face during a botched drug deal.

In an e-mail, the Department of Children and Families said it was cooperating with the investigation, but couldn’t share further details because of “federal and state privacy requirements.”

1/10
"According to Massachusetts court records and relatives, Sorey was pregnant with the child in January 2014 when Montgomery shot a man in the head during a drug deal in Haverhill.

Adam Montgomery pleaded guilty in connection with the 2014 Haverhill shooting and was given an 18-month suspended sentence to be served concurrently with an unrelated criminal case, records show.

Massachusetts officials are monitoring the case. The Massachusetts juvenile court awarded custody of Harmony to Adam Montgomery in February 2019, according to a recent statement from Maria Mossaides, director of the Office of the Child Advocate in Massachusetts."

Boston 25 News has an article with the most detail I've been able to find in regard to the procedure used in this case. 25 Investigates: ‘System failure’ allowed NH girl’s disappearance to go unreported for two years

"Investigative reporter and anchor Kerry Kavanaugh has learned that once 7-year old Harmony left Massachusetts with no ICPC in place, that effectively ended DCF’s involvement in her life and the department closed her case."

A Judge interviewed noted that it's not prohibited to award custody to someone with a criminal record: “It’s not prohibited unless that criminal record included the death of another child. As soon as [Dad] steps forward, their regulations allow them to get the ICPC started with New Hampshire,” she said about DCF guidelines about out of state placements."

"What’s unclear is whether Massachusetts DCF requested an ICPC and whether New Hampshire declined to do one. Under Massachusetts regulations, when a child is going to the custody of a biological parent an ICPC is not required. ICPC’s are usually invoked when children are placed for adoption or foster care across state lines.

But Judge Craven says sending a child in DCF care to another state without an ICPC is highly unusual.

“I don’t recall ever doing it,” she tells 25 Investigates."

The article notes the usual process which clearly was NOT followed in this case:

"The agency added, custody awards are the end result of a court process, and are determined by the court. And, they say, as a general matter, per Massachusetts DCF regulations, placement with a caregiver is contingent on a home study done by the child welfare agency in a receiving state through the ICPC process. The caregiver for the child also must pass a background records check performed in accordance with the DCF Background Records Check Policy."

From another Boston 25 article: "What’s unclear is whether DCF ever conducted a home study before Harmony was placed with her father and whether any child welfare was checking in on her once that placement was finalized...If there’s an open child protective case, which means that there’s a legal relationship between a state, a child and a family, so generally when they’re sent to another state there may be an interstate compact agreement where the receiving state would have some responsibility to check on the child. If however the child is placed with a non-offending parent, a biological parent who’s not involved in any abuse and neglect, they may not need that because the child is considered safe."

What I surmise is that MA was happy to get this case closed and end all their work associated with it by placing HM with AM as they could consider him a "non offending" parent as he was not involved in the MA DCF case and was a resident of NH.

This isn't to say NH didn't make their own errors once HM was found as part of a NH investigation. Did they ever realize she had an active case in MA? I seriously doubt it.

I've also looked at a MA document "Navigating the MCCJA, PKPA, ICPC and ICWA" https://www.mass.gov/doc/navigation...compact-on-the-placement-of-children/download

The relevant info seems to be:

"The ICPC does not apply if:  Court is giving custody to out of state parent pursuant to non-child welfare probate or family court order. ICPC Reg. No. 2 and 3 ...Child is transferred to a non-custodial parent in another state provided that there is no evidence that the parent is unfit, the court does not seek such information, and court does not retain jurisdiction over placement. ICPC Reg. No. 3

This all says to me that they failed to do even rudimentary due diligence of AM. I can conclude that as he had a serious criminal history with violent offenses in MA. It strains any credulity to believe they did a background check and found his violent criminal history was irrelevant. Instead I think they simply did no due diligence by following the technical exception requirements and willfully ignoring his background by refusing to do any investigation. I see MA DCF's inaction as the prime causal factor in this tragedy.

But I'd love for anyone more knowledgeable like Althea to weigh in on whether I'm on the right track and if this seems likely. Because if so I think some serious changes need to be made and I want to remain informed so I can contact legislators and officials to try & make sure they don't just bury their failure here. But it seems like placing HM with AM without an ICPC may have been technically compliant but grossly negligent.

Very informative, thank you. I agree, I think MA were keen to close the case. Even where the judge didn’t order an ICPC, it concerns me that there doesn’t appear to have been any communication between state departments. Even a call to NH to advise that a previously looked after child was moving there could have made all the difference. It would have logged her history at the very least, that could have potentially been a point of reference for the subsequent police incidents or referral’s made by family.

JAN 14, 2022
Harmony Montgomery's mother says her pleas were disregarded (boston.com)
[...]

Sorey said in an interview with the Globe she began searching for her daughter in 2019 after Adam and Kayla blocked her from contacting them.

She went in and out of sober homes and shelters after she lost custody, but reports filed in court indicate Sorey has since been sober.

Sorey told the newspaper she called schools in New Hampshire where she thought Harmony may be a student, used paid internet search tools to gather addresses connected to Adam, and tried repeatedly to contact DCYF before she contacted Manchester police.

“I didn’t just sit around and say, ‘Oh, they took my daughter, I’m just going to get high, man,’ ” she said. “By the time detectives got involved, I had probably about 16 e-mails [full] of information for them already … because I had already been looking for her for a year and a half.”

[...]

I’m not going to lie, I’m weary about some of CS’s claims but if it weren’t for her email to the Mayor, Harmony would have remained invisible, possibly for many years to come.

 

[IDK]

I’m wary of some of the biological mom’s statements as well. For example, if her parental rights were terminated, how would she have been privy to what happened in the therapy sessions? Wouldn’t what happened in those sessions be considered protected information? Just curious what others think.

 

[Lusitana]

I’m wary of some of the biological mom’s statements as well. For example, if her parental rights were terminated, how would she have been privy to what happened in the therapy sessions? Wouldn’t what happened in those sessions be considered protected information? Just curious what others think.

She was in contact with Harmony for a short period of time once her father got custody. When contact was ceased, she started looking for her and my guess is that she probably reached out to Adam's family and friends and might have found some pretty concerning information. She has no reason to make things up.

 

[IDK]

She was in contact with Harmony for a short period of time once her father got custody. When contact was ceased, she started looking for her and my guess is that she probably reached out to Adam's family and friends and might have found some pretty concerning information. She has no reason to make things up.

I’ll see if I can find the quote I’m talking about, it was oddly specific, but maybe I misread it.

 

[abbyrdpsu]

I've been following this case and Oakley Carlson, and all I can think about is what other cases of children disappearing during COVID are out there yet to be discovered? It was so easy for people to fall off the grid during the shutdowns. The normal eyes that served as some protection for children weren't there anymore. Many child welfare agencies suspended in-person contacts for a time, limiting workers' ability to truly assess circumstances. Schools had limited ways of tracking and following up with virtual students. Doctor's appointments were cancelled. Even neighbors had less interaction that might have otherwise served as a layer of protection. In the same timeframe, it has been reported that drug use and domestic violence significantly increased.

I hope I'm wrong, but I dread that Harmony and Oakley's tragic "disappearances" won't be the last we learn about. JMO.

 

[Psychic Sleuth]

I’m aware of the timeline PommyMommy has kindly put together, I guess I’m wondering where the therapy fit in terms of assessment and planning rather than chronologically. CS has stated that Harmony alluded to abuse in AM’s care if that’s the case, it implies downright negligence on child services part if the alleged disclosures were not followed up on prior to her being placed with AM full time.

I understand Harmony was likely having contact with AM throughout, but IMO the reports that she was ‘bouncing in and out of foster care’ imply something more than time limited contact, which is what leads me to wonder whose care she was in when she was out of foster care.

Therapy itself would surely be part of multi agency intervention and support, so there should be records of the sessions somewhere that the public obviously won’t be privy to, but LE and other relevant investigating bodies will as they try to determine where exactly things unravelled for poor Harmony.

Someone commented that ‘most’ children in foster care receive therapy (I can’t quote the post on my phone for some reason, sorry). That’s mind blowing to me, especially for a pre-school age child who isn’t demonstrating distressed behaviour or severe delayed development. Again, I’m making the assumptions Harmony wasn’t because I haven’t read otherwise in the information available to me. It’s not a standard service we provide where I’m from, sadly we just don’t have the resources.
That’s partly why I post and read WS though, to understand how the system works in other countries.

BBM

That was me who made this comment.

I can only speak for my state and my experience with foster care. The general thinking is that most foster kids have suffered some type of trauma and need counseling. Just the fact that they are in foster care can cause trauma and often times their parents actions (or non actions) during the dependency can cause them further trauma while in foster care. If the parents do something that is clearly upsetting to them, the solution is always to put the child in counseling or get them services to help them deal with it. Rarely are parents blamed. The mentality is fix the child, not blame the parents.

IF Harmony was in counseling, the counselor would send a report to the court. Likely, if there was harsh punishment by a parent, that parent would be asked to take a parenting class or anger management class or something of that sort. That would not automatically exclude them as a possible permanent placement for the child. They "fix" the parents so they can get their child. That's the whole mentality of the system.
(the problem is this rarely works. Children go through all of that to be returned home, then go right back into the system, and often times they bounce in and out for years. This is very common and it's so very harmful to them)

 

[Psychic Sleuth]

I’m wary of some of the biological mom’s statements as well. For example, if her parental rights were terminated, how would she have been privy to what happened in the therapy sessions? Wouldn’t what happened in those sessions be considered protected information? Just curious what others think.

If she was in counseling during her dependency (which I'm sure she was), all of that would have likely been brought up in court and her Mother would have known.

There are court hearings every step of the way during a child dependency. The parents usually have their own Lawyer. There is DCYF, a Judge, a GAL or CASA, a child's Lawyer, Counselors and lots of people involved. It's not like DCYF just makes all the decisions. The Judge always has the final say and often goes against DCYF. It's a legal hearing not unlike every other hearing where the case is presented with facts and Lawyers argue for their client and the Judge makes a ruling.

 

[Psychic Sleuth]

I am shocked that there was no ICPC. It really sounds like MA DCYF just turned her loose to her Father and case closed. At the very least they had to have done background check on him. I wonder if he had to do parenting classes or any other of the usual services before getting her. If the parent doesn't have a history of crimes against children, it doesn't much matter what their history is (at least in my experience). "Being an addict does not make them a bad parent" is something Social Workers often say. Or "being a criminal does not make them a bad parent".

 

[Lulu'smom]

She was in contact with Harmony for a short period of time once her father got custody. When contact was ceased, she started looking for her and my guess is that she probably reached out to Adam's family and friends and might have found some pretty concerning information. She has no reason to make things up.

I hope it is OK to post this w/out a link, which I cannot find. CS said she reached out to Adam's aunt or great aunt, Kendra, I believe, and that Kendra saw AM posting personal belongings for sale on FB marketplace. This was in the critical Oct. 2019 timeframe.

 

[Lusitana]

I hope it is OK to post this w/out a link, which I cannot find. CS said she reached out to Adam's aunt or great aunt, Kendra, I believe, and that Kendra saw AM posting personal belongings for sale on FB marketplace. This was in the critical Oct. 2019 timeframe.

Thank you.

 

[PommyMommy]

Blair Miller on Twitter (Video)
This week we did an interview with @GMA to help bring more attention to the
search for #HarmonyMontgomery - our hearts ache for answers and we continue to plead for someone to come forward. Our message: #BringHarmonyHome
4:24 PM · Jan 15, 2022·Twitter for iPhone

Hunt for 7-year-old, last seen in 2019, intensifies | GMA (goodmorningamerica.com)

 

[Sachi]

If she was in counseling during her dependency (which I'm sure she was), all of that would have likely been brought up in court and her Mother would have known.

There are court hearings every step of the way during a child dependency. The parents usually have their own Lawyer. There is DCYF, a Judge, a GAL or CASA, a child's Lawyer, Counselors and lots of people involved. It's not like DCYF just makes all the decisions. The Judge always has the final say and often goes against DCYF. It's a legal hearing not unlike every other hearing where the case is presented with facts and Lawyers argue for their client and the Judge makes a ruling.

Thank you for sharing/informing- appreciate it.

 

[PommyMommy]

JAN 15, 2022
DCYF says girl’s quiet disappearance points to ‘societal failure’ (concordmonitor.com)
[...]

Moira O’Neill, the director for the office of the Child Advocate, said Harmony’s disappearance isn’t necessarily a systemic failure.

[...]

“A bureaucracy can only do so much in a state government,” she said. “The failure is at the level of community. It’s a societal failure that we don’t pay attention to kids around us.”

[...]

“It was only recently that DCYF has been able to get a court order to actually get in and see a child if they’re worried about the child,” she said. “Everyone thinks they can do everything, but they actually have pretty limited authority around going into people’s homes.”

[...]

DCYF has had a long, troubled reputation in the public eye.

Most publicly, the agency came under fire after the death of two children, Sadee Willott in 2014 and Brielle Gage in 2015.

Child protection workers were involved in Sadee Willott’s life just days after her birth. Over the first 21 months of her short life, caseworkers met with Sadee’s family 30 times to check whether the toddler was being physically abused and neglected. Every report was dismissed, except for the last – but by then it was far too late. When the ruling was made, Sadee had already been dead for more than a year.

In the year before Brielle Gage died, DCYF received at least five reports of abuse and neglect against the toddler or her four brothers, who ranged in age from nine months to 8 years old.

A 2017 Monitor investigation found that crushing caseloads, high staff turnover and a lack of thorough investigations were to blame for the oversights.

[...]

Another Monitor investigation from November found that many of these problems still exist in DCYF offices, especially at the Manchester office which would have responded to reports surrounding Harmony Montgomery.

In a state that employs a total of 283 child protection workers, 196 have quit or transferred out of their positions since 2019, according to data from the N.H. Department of Health and Human Services.

[...]

AB, a former Manchester child protection worker, said when she left her position in the spring of 2019 she was working on cases for more than 200 children. She said she worked between 70 and 80 hours a week to keep up with her workload while caring for her own newborn.

[...]

 

[Sachi]

JAN 15, 2022
DCYF says girl’s quiet disappearance points to ‘societal failure’ (concordmonitor.com)
[...]

Moira O’Neill, the director for the office of the Child Advocate, said Harmony’s disappearance isn’t necessarily a systemic failure.

[...]

“A bureaucracy can only do so much in a state government,” she said. “The failure is at the level of community. It’s a societal failure that we don’t pay attention to kids around us.”

[...]

“It was only recently that DCYF has been able to get a court order to actually get in and see a child if they’re worried about the child,” she said. “Everyone thinks they can do everything, but they actually have pretty limited authority around going into people’s homes.”

[...]

DCYF has had a long, troubled reputation in the public eye.

Most publicly, the agency came under fire after the death of two children, Sadee Willott in 2014 and Brielle Gage in 2015.

Child protection workers were involved in Sadee Willott’s life just days after her birth. Over the first 21 months of her short life, caseworkers met with Sadee’s family 30 times to check whether the toddler was being physically abused and neglected. Every report was dismissed, except for the last – but by then it was far too late. When the ruling was made, Sadee had already been dead for more than a year.

In the year before Brielle Gage died, DCYF received at least five reports of abuse and neglect against the toddler or her four brothers, who ranged in age from nine months to 8 years old.

A 2017 Monitor investigation found that crushing caseloads, high staff turnover and a lack of thorough investigations were to blame for the oversights.

[...]

Another Monitor investigation from November found that many of these problems still exist in DCYF offices, especially at the Manchester office which would have responded to reports surrounding Harmony Montgomery.

In a state that employs a total of 283 child protection workers, 196 have quit or transferred out of their positions since 2019, according to data from the N.H. Department of Health and Human Services.

[...]

AB, a former Manchester child protection worker, said when she left her position in the spring of 2019 she was working on cases for more than 200 children. She said she worked between 70 and 80 hours a week to keep up with her workload while caring for her own newborn.

[...]

quite eye opening, thank you PommyMommy

 

[Psychic Sleuth]

Social Workers last less than 2 years on average. I honestly cannot imagine a more difficult job. They are way over worked and it's unbelievable what is expected of them. IMHO it's the laws that need to change. Harmony never should have been turned over to her Father. Whose fault is it that she was? It's hard to say without knowing all the details of the dependency case. But I know from experience with Foster Care, the goal is always reunification with a bio parent no matter what. Violent criminal history or not. Addiction or not. REUNIFICATION REUNIFICATION REUNIFICATION. That's all you hear. They put the parent in a class and deem them "fixed" and return the kids. It happens every day. Most people just don't know and think it's all on DCYF/CPS. The Judge always makes the final decision.

 

[PommyMommy]

JAN 15, 2022
Adoptive fathers of Harmony Montgomery's brother urge anyone with information to come forward (wmur.com)
[...]

The Millers said their family was once at a baseball game and J did not want to leave because he thought he saw Harmony.

"He said, 'I think that's Harmony over there,' and he wanted to go play with that little girl just to make sure it was not his sister," Johnathan said.

J's dads said they are in constant communication with police and frequently send along any tips they receive to detectives.

"She has a little brother that loves and needs her," Johnathan said. "He wants to hug his sister again, and we want to give him that opportunity."

[...]