Massachusetts’ missing kids

Good morning. Today I’m talking with Globe colleagues about how they reported a difficult story about kids who run away from Massachusetts state care. But first, here’s what else is going on:

• Israel and Hamas agreed to the first phase of President Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza: a cease-fire and the release of Hamas-held hostages. Trump called it “the first steps toward a strong, durable, and everlasting peace.”
• Members of the Kennedy family mourned the death of Joan Bennett Kennedy, the first wife of Senator Ted Kennedy who advocated for people with mental health conditions while facing her own struggles. See photos of Joan Kennedy, who was 89, through the years.
• Boston has been the biotech industry capital of the world for years. Houston, the UK, and other places are trying to dethrone it.

Today’s Starting Point

In 2018, G Araujo, a 17-year-old from Gloucester, ran away from the home in Bradford where she’d been living with a group of other Massachusetts teenagers under the care of the state’s child welfare system. She died of an accidental overdose two days later.

G, born Gustavo, is among the hundreds of children in the custody of Massachusetts’ Department of Children and Families who go missing every year — many of them Black or Hispanic teenagers. Some return hours or days later. Others end up victims of sex trafficking or are never found.

The Globe has just published a story about the persistent problem of teens running away from state-overseen homes. Reading it raised some bigger questions about how that system works (or doesn’t), so I asked reporters Tricia L. Nadolny and Jason Laughlin to tell me more.

Ian: G’s story has never been reported publicly. How did you find out what happened to her?

Tricia: Because of privacy concerns, DCF doesn’t provide information about what happens in group homes like the one G lived in — even to the point where if a kid dies there might be no public accounting. We found out about G’s case through a different agency that licenses group homes. We asked for inspection reports where homes were cited for violating policy, and in that trove was a document about a resident who ran away and died. We didn’t have a name, but I requested the police report and used death records to confirm her identity. Some people close to G didn’t even know she’d been state care. It just shows how hard it is to understand what’s happening in the system.

Is DCF’s group home system just broken?

Jason: About a third of teens in DCF’s care end up in residential facilities. Some advocates say there should be far less reliance on them. There are a lot of really good people at DCF. But as I reported in a previous story, within group homes there’s sometimes abuse, inappropriate behavior, rules that aren’t followed, and incompetence. You can understand why a teen might want to get away from that. But most kids in the DCF system end up in foster homes, adopted, or with family. So it’s not that this is just a rotten system through and through.

As reporters, how do you approach talking to people who have experienced trauma?

Tricia:  We start from a place of just wanting to listen. People who’ve been through trauma often feel like they’ve lost control. These kids didn’t have control over who they were living with, what they could do, what their schedules were. Letting them, now as adults, tell their stories I hope gives them that control back and helps them feel like what happened to them could lead to positive change in the system.

Points of Interest

Boston: Mayor Michelle Wu criticized pro-Palestinian protesters who attacked police this week, saying they should “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Massachusetts: An ongoing bar advocate work stoppage. A state-imposed hiring freeze. Long-overdue building maintenance. Some lawyers say the Massachusetts Legislature is letting the state’s judicial system crumble.

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