COFAR blog

Last week, we brought a concern to the attention of some 50 state legislators that there seems to be a serious problem with the state’s Abuser Registry.

New data we received from the state show that a majority of care providers whom the state has affirmed committed abuse against persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities have nevertheless been able to avoid having their names placed in the Registry.

The lawmakers to whom I sent an email on July 17 containing the link above to our report include the members of the Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities Committee, the Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery Committee, and the Health Care Financing Committee.

Those are the principal committees in the Legislature that deal with human services issues.

No response

To date, I haven’t received a response from any of those legislators. I followed up on my original email with a second email on July 18 to the counsel to the Children and Families Committee, and left follow-up phone messages over the past week with the co-chairs of each of the three committees.

It’s not clear to us why none of those lawmakers is willing even to say they will look into our findings. We would hope a potentially serious problem with the Abuser Registry would be of interest to all legislators.

The Abuser Registry was established under “Nicky’s Law” as a means of ensuring that individuals who have been affirmed to have committed “Registrable Abuse” cannot be hired or continue to serve in the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) system even if they don’t have criminal records.

The Registry is a database that the state and its provider agencies must check before hiring new caregiving personnel. Placement of the name of an individual in the Registry means that person is no longer eligible to work for DDS or for any agency funded by DDS.

Data show most abusers’ names not being placed in Registry

We agree that equitable use of the Abuser Registry requires balancing the protection of disabled persons from abuse with due process for accused care providers.

But as we reported, new data we received from the Disabled Persons Protection Commission (DPPC) under a Public Records Law request raise a question whether the scales in that balance might be weighted too heavily in favor of the care providers.

The data show that in only 36% of the cases in which DPPC affirmed initial substantiations of abuse allegations against care providers did the agency conclude that those persons’ names should be placed in the Registry. The DPPC data covered a three-year period since the database was first put into use in July 2021.

The relatively low number of care providers who have been barred from further DDS-funded employment appears to be due to provisions in the Registry regulations that appear to give wide discretion to DPPC to decide whether an individual is fit to continue to provide services.

Even if a Registrable Abuse allegation is initially substantiated against a care provider, the regulations state that the provider can petition the DPPC to argue that they should not be placed in the Registry because the alleged incident of abuse was “isolated and unlikely to reoccur,” and the provider is “fit to provide services.”

Determining whether an incident of abuse was isolated could potentially require DPPC to determine whether the individual had prior abuse allegations lodged against them. But while the regulations state that DPPC may consider information like that, the regulations don’t require DPPC to take any particular factor into consideration.

According to the DPPC data, the names of a total of 102 care providers have been placed in the Registry during the three-year period since the Registry took effect. That is 38% of the total of 266 care providers who received initial notices of substantiated Registrable Abuse in that period.

But the finding that was more concerning to us has to do with the 161 decisions the DPPC made regarding petitions that were filed by care providers to overturn initial abuse substantiations against them.

Of 132 petition cases in which the DPPC ultimately upheld the initial abuse substantiations, the agency concluded that only 47 of those substantiated abusers should have their names placed in the Registry. That is only 36% of the 132 cases.

In 85, or 64% of those cases, the DPPC determined that the abuse wasn’t Registrable, meaning the care provider should not be placed in the Registry. The agency somehow determined in those 85 cases that even though abuse had occurred, those incidents were isolated and unlikely to reoccur and the care provider was fit to provide services.

We supported the Nicky’s Law legislation, which became law in 2020, and continue to do so. But as we said in our post last week, we think the balance between safety due process needs to be adjusted.

You can help find out what’s up with our legislators

Are our legislators who are entrusted with considering and voting on matters affecting the lives of some of the most vulnerable members of our society satisfied with the Registry’s record after three years? If they are satisfied with it, why not say so? If they aren’t satisfied, why not say that?

Below is a list of the legislators whom I emailed last week expressing our concern about the Registry. Lawmakers who serve on more than one of the committees listed below are listed only once.

If any of these legislators represents your district, please feel free to email them and forward this link to our previous post, even though they should already have it. (Don’t feel you have to email more than your own senator or representative, or more than one or two of the co-chairs of the three committees. We would suggest that you email one legislator at a time.)

Ask for a response, and, if you get one, please let us know what they have to say.

Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities Committee

Sen. Robyn Kennedy, co-chair, Robyn.Kennedy@masenate.gov
Rep. Jay Livingstone, co-chair, Jay.Livingstone@mahouse.gov

Sen. Becca Rausch, vice chair, Becca.Rausch@masenate.gov
Rep. Jessica Giannino, vice chair, jessica.giannino@mahouse.gov

Sen. Lydia Edwards, lydia.edwards@masenate.gov
Sen. James Eldridge, James.Eldridge@masenate.gov
Sen. Paul Mark, Paul.Mark@masenate.gov
Sen. Patrick O’Connor, Patrick.OConnor@masenate.gov

Rep. Rita Mendes, Rita.Mendes@mahouse.gov
Rep. Michelle Ciccolo, michelle.ciccolo@mahouse.gov
Rep. Adrianne Ramos, Adrianne.Ramos@mahouse.gov
Rep. Carol Doherty, carol.doherty@mahouse.gov
Rep. David LeBoeuf, david.leboeuf@mahouse.gov
Rep. Natalie Higgins, Natalie.Higgins@mahouse.gov
Rep. John Moran, john.moran@mahouse.gov
Rep. Donald Berthiaume, Donald.Berthiaume@mahouse.gov
Rep. Alyson Sullivan, alyson.sullivan@mahouse.gov

Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery Committee

Sen. John Velis, co-chair, john.velis@masenate.gov
Rep. Adrian Madaro, co-chair, Adrian.Madaro@mahouse.gov

Sen. Julian Cyr, vice chair, julian.cyr@masenate.gov
Rep. Michelle DuBois, vice chair, Michelle.DuBois@mahouse.gov

Sen. Nick Collins, Nick.Collins@masenate.gov
Sen. Brendan Crighton, brendan.crighton@masenate.gov
Sen. John Keenan, John.Keenan@masenate.gov

Rep. Sally Kerans, Sally.Kerans@mahouse.gov
Rep. Christopher Markey, Christopher.Markey@mahouse.gov
Rep. Michael Kushmerek, Michael.Kushmerek@mahouse.gov
Rep. Simon Cataldo, Simon.Cataldo@mahouse.gov
Rep. Tram Nguyen, tram.nguyen@mahouse.gov
Rep. Kate Donaghue, Kate.Donaghue@mahouse.gov
Rep. Susannah Whipps, Susannah.Whipps@mahouse.gov
Rep. Steven George Xiarhos, Steven.Xiarhos@mahouse.gov

Health Care Financing Committee

Sen. Cindy Friedman, co-chair, Cindy.Friedman@masenate.gov
Rep. John Lawn, co-chair, John.Lawn@mahouse.gov

Sen. John Cronin, vice chair, John.Cronin@masenate.gov
Rep. Kathleen LaNatra, vice chair, kathleen.lanatra@mahouse.gov

Sen. Paul Feeney, paul.feeney@masenate.gov
Sen. John Keenan, John.Keenan@masenate.gov
Sen. Jason Lewis, Jason.Lewis@masenate.gov

Rep. Brian Murray, Brian.Murray@mahouse.gov
Rep. Steven Ultrino, Steven.Ultrino@mahouse.gov
Rep. Christine Barber, Christine.Barber@mahouse.gov
Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, lindsay.sabadosa@mahouse.gov
Rep. Patricia Duffy, Patricia.Duffy@mahouse.gov
Rep. Kip Diggs, Kip.Diggs@mahouse.gov
Rep. Jack Lewis, Jack.Lewis@mahouse.gov
Rep. Christopher Worrell, Christopher.Worrell@mahouse.gov
Rep. Hannah Kane, Hannah.Kane@mahouse.gov
Rep. Mathew Muratore, Mathew.Muratore@mahouse.gov
Rep. F.J. Barrows, fred.barrows@mahouse.gov

Thanks!