Retired Massachusetts Juvenile Court Judge Carol Erskine has filed a request that the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Leah B. Foley, in coordination with the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, initiate a pattern or practice investigation into the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) for systemic violations of the civil rights of children with disabilities.
On July 1, 2025, Judge Erskine petitioned the New Hampshire U.S. Attorney and the FBI for a federal civil rights investigation under color of law into the death of Harmony Montgomery.
This current fifty-five page submission alleges widespread discrimination against disabled children in Massachusetts who were under DCF care, supervision, or custody. Although the three cases highlighted arose in different regions of the Commonwealth, involved different personnel, and occurred across separate time periods, they share legally significant common features that raise substantial concerns of systemic disability-based discrimination within DCF’s administration of child welfare services.
According to the submission, DCF repeatedly failed to provide legally required reasonable modifications, timely therapeutic services, effective communication accommodations, and disability-informed case management, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. These failures persisted despite escalating risk assessments, documented trauma, and clear indicators of heightened vulnerability. All three children died by homicide and are three of the seven DCF-involved child homicide victims in the last twelve years in Massachusetts.
The request further asserts that these violations were compounded by systemic failures within the legal and judicial child welfare system, including the failure to meaningfully consider children’s disabilities in placement decisions, the court proceedings, legal representation, service planning, and oversight. As a result, disabled children were effectively excluded from the protections afforded to others in state care.
The factual allegations are supported by reports and investigations of the Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate, federal and other investigative sources, and applicable statutory and regulatory authorities. Together, they demonstrate a recurring pattern in which disabled children are treated as interchangeable with non-disabled peers, their disabilities minimized or ignored, and their heightened risk left unaddressed.
These are not isolated tragedies,” the request states. “They reflect a systemic failure to recognize disabled children as a protected class under federal civil rights law—with fatal consequences.
The submission calls on federal authorities to determine whether Massachusetts child welfare practices constitute a pattern or practice of discrimination against children with disabilities and to assess the need for federal oversight, remedial measures, and structural reform.
