Agency being considered to review DCYF

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — It’s been a tumultuous few months at DCYF.

First a child under the agency’s care dies, then union employees vote “no confidence” in the agency’s director, and just last week that director announces she’s leaving.

Now Washington, D.C.– based Child Welfare League of America is being considered to conduct a top–to–bottom review of the agency.

The head of the CWLA says her group’s job is to connect the dots.

“You may have followed the protocol and done everything, but for some reason there’s one dot that’s not connecting,” said CWLA President and CEO Chris James Brown. “So the good state, the good organization, will not get defensive, but step back and say, ‘When it comes to children dying we need to really understand what happened.'”

Some Rhode Islanders agree that it’s helpful to bring in an outside agency, removed from the inner workings of state politics.

“It makes sense to have someone who doesn’t have skin in the game come in and observe — as long as they’re looking to find something useful and truthful, not just a witch hunt,” said Christina Vivona of Providence. “So they have to come in with an open mind, but if they don’t have anything to lose or gain, then they’ll be able to be fair.”

But Kathy McElroy, the head of SEIU–Local 580, the union representing DCYF employees isn’t so sure this review is necessary.

“I think the review is going to show exactly what the Child Advocate report showed and what the CFSR last year showed: that we don’t have enough staff to do the job well,” she said.

James-Brown says if the CWLA says is chosen for the review, the process could take at least six months.

©WLNE-TV / ABC6 2019