Justina Pelletier Likely Going To CT, But Not Home

Monday May 5, 2014 - Justina Pelletier is probably going back to Connecticut next week but she won't be going home.  
    After more than 15 months in custody of the MA Department of Children and Families, she is slated to go back to her home state, but it will not be to her family home.  She is scheduled to go to the Susan Wayne Center in Thompson CT.
    The state hails this as progress.  ABC News quotes HHS secretary John Polanowicz in a letter he sent Monday to the MA House of Representatives:  "'We are confident that we have found the right pathway for Justina to return home as soon as possible so she can continue her strong recovery in Connecticut,'" said Polanowicz.  
    Justina's father Lou is angry she is not being released back into custody of her family, which he says the state already agreed to do. He said she is suffering at the state-supported Wayside facility in Framingham where she is currently being held, and the facility in CT will be just as bad.  "She has chipped teeth with forced feeding," he told radio host Howie Carr on Monday, and added she should not be in that kind of rough environment. "Now at Wayside every child has major behavioral issues. That’s why they are there," he added.    
    The tragedy of Justina Pelletier has gone on long enough.  Many lawmakers in the Bay State have been ducking the issue, saying they cannot get involved in an ongoing lawsuit.  But they have been doing less than even the absolute minimum.
    Rep Jim Lyons introduced a non-binding resolution in mid-March that Justina should be freed. The bill had the support of 16 Republicans and seven Democrats.  As soon as it was introduced Rep David Linsky from Natick was recorded as having stood up and objected, and his action caused the motion to immediately be sent into committee, thus killing the motion.  
    (Linsky later explained his action by saying he objected because Lyons followed the wrong procedure, but Lyons said he followed the exact procedure laid down by the clerk and Linsky's explanation does not hold water.)
    Rather than helping Justina by supporting this motion, Rep Linsky did the opposite. It is hard to imagine why anyone would do such a thing.
    If lawmakers wanted to make a difference they would stand up and be counted as wanting her to go home to her family.  Earlier this year the judge in the case awarded permanent custody of Justina to the state.  Much of his reasoning apparently stemmed from the idea that Lou Pelletier is wrong to care passionately about what fate and the state has in store for his daughter, and that Lou has been unreasonable in his demands.  Perhaps if the judge were to see that Lou Pelletier’s passion is shared by everyone he would reconsider his position.
    I have written before (on April 2nd in the Natick Patch and on www.grindleforep.com and elsewhere) that DCF has suffered a string of failures and needs more oversight, and as bad as the Justina case is it is part of a wider pattern of failure at the agency.
    The entire system that created this tragedy should be thoroughly investigated and reformed to ensure it cannot happen again.
    Next week Justina will likely be closer to home.  
    But it is a crying shame that she has not made it fully back home yet.  We need to get her home for good.