The state Department of Children and Families this afternoon acknowledged a “serious failure’’ in the handling of the case of Jeremiah Oliver, a five-year-old boy who was last seen by a relative on Sept. 14 and is now feared dead.
snip
DCF Commissioner Olga I. Roche said this afternoon that a social worker and supervisor who were assigned to the Oliver family have been fired.
“This case represents a serious failure on the part of the social worker and supervisor assigned to the family,” Roche said, reading from a prepared statement.
Roche said “the social worker assigned to this case did not conduct the required in-person, monthly checks on the family, as required by the department. And the supervisor of the worker failed to enforce that policy. Both have been terminated.’’
Roche would not provide a detailed account of the agency’s involvement with Elsa Oliver and her three children. She said the agency first got involved with the family in September 2011.
This June — about a month after Sierra allegedly started abusing Elsa Oliver and the three children — Jeremiah’s day care provider reported that Elsa Oliver said the child was moving to Florida to live with his grandmother.
The social worker, Roche said, failed to check out the report.
According to law enforcement, Jeremiah Oliver was attending Reingold, but his absence was not noticed at the school, either, not until Oliver’s sister reported on Dec. 2 that Sierra was abusing their mother as well as the children.
Fitchburg school officials referred all questions to the office of Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early Jr., which is overseeing the probe into Jeremiah’s disappearance.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/ma...r-boyfriend/UKlAv25e9IY7cbyvV47GrI/story.html