DSS policy called biased by minority-owned firms

Howard Manly

A group of minority-owned mental health providers, frustrated by the lack of business provided by the state Department of Social Services (DSS), have charged the agency with a systematic pattern of discrimination that is apparently at odds with the agency’s stated goal of developing community-based organizations and increasing their capacities.

Dr. Omar Reid, president of the recently formed Black Mental Health Alliance, said his group was unaware of the discriminatory practices until several white social workers informed him of high-level discussions in which they were told by senior officials at nonprofit agencies that contract with DSS not to refer clients to the black mental health providers.

“We initially thought that we weren’t receiving any business because we simply had to wait our turn,” Reid said. “But then we find out that white social workers were actually being told not to make referrals to us — even when they thought that we were more appropriate. It was shocking to us and even more shocking to the white social workers who told us about it. They were outraged.”

Two years ago, for instance, DSS made about 1,200 referrals a month in the Greater Boston area. Of those referrals, according to Reid, only about “one or two per month” were made to black mental health providers. Since then, Reid estimates the percentage to be less than 1 percent — an extremely troublesome number, given DSS estimates that roughly 50 percent of their clients who need services are African American and Latino families.

DSS was unable to provide any information on the number of contracts awarded in recent years under its “Family Networks.”

In its statement of goals for the Family Networks service, DSS claims that it is committed to diversity and cultural competency.

“Diversity in practice terms is broadly defined and must be inclusive of the many identities and affiliations of children and families,” the DSS goals state. “One way to demonstrate this commitment is to hold firm to creating a child welfare staff that is reflective of the demographics and values of the communities within which we work.”

Achieving its diversity goals is one thing; providing culturally competent services is another. DSS readily admits there may be differences among its social service providers and those receiving those services.

“Cultural competence,” the DSS goals state, “is most often defined as a continual effort to learn and be guided by the understanding that families’ perceptions, beliefs and decisions are determined by comprehensive worldview that may be different from the practitioner.”

But at the heart of the issue is what is best for the families, and DSS has stated that those strategic decisions must include the voices of family members.

“The inclusion of parents and other caregivers from the beginning as members of the decision-making team honors the fundamental role of families as the primary contributors to children’s permanency, safety and well-being,” the DSS goals state.

As a member of the Black Mental Health Alliance, Larry Higginbottom knows the obstacles firsthand. He started the Osiris Group in August 2001 and has been operating in Massachusetts since 2003. He prides himself on his company’s ability to deliver culturally competent, clinically successful services to black and Latino families.

Given the state of need for family services throughout the state, Higginbottom said, “We should be doing as much business as we can handle.”

Unfortunately, that is not the case. Higginbottom said that though no one has complained about the quality of services that he has provided, “we have never been at full capacity. In fact, we have never been at half capacity.”

He too was shocked when he learned of the “deliberate, discriminatory practice.”

According to Higginbottom, he was told that the social workers were ordered to give his company “every fifth or sixth referral” — regardless of whether the social worker thought that Osiris was most appropriate, and worse, whether the family requesting services had asked for Osiris.

“Quality is supposed to drive the business,” Higginbottom said. “If another company offers a better service, then they should receive more business. But that is not the case. Everyone says they have no problem with our service, but yet our business doesn’t reflect that.”

For the last four years, Higginbottom said he met with then-DSS Commissioner Harry Spence and explained what he described as the agency’s “unfair and biased” distribution system. In recent months, Higginbottom, along with other black family service providers, met with new DSS Commissioner Angelo McClain to detail the problems.

As it is now, the bulk of the referrals are made through lead agencies that have contracts with DSS. Those agencies — including The Home for Little Wanderers, Dimock Community Health Center, Justice Resource Institute, and Health & Education Services — act as brokers between families in need and those able to provide services.

But what Higginbottom and other black family service providers have learned is that an “old boy” network exists in which the lead agencies give more work to companies with which they have had prior relationships — regardless of those company’s ability to provide culturally competent or clinically successful work.

“This deliberate discriminatory practice needs to stop,” Higginbottom said. “The referrals should be based on quality, quality, quality. That is all that we are asking. There should be no favoritism, no quotas, no handcuffs on our ability to do as much business as we can handle.”

Sekou Mims has similar problems. He started the nonprofit social services agency Pyramid Builders Associates Inc. in 2000, and says that he too is operating at only half of his capacity.

What troubles Mims most is that his staff is filled with well-educated, experienced practitioners, many of who are capable of speaking several different languages, including Vietnamese, Haitian Creole and Spanish.

“We have a very high success rate with the services that we provide,” Mims said. “But our numbers of referrals don’t reflect that. It’s a struggle to continue to see other companies that have a staff less educated and less experienced than ours receive most of the work. The problem is the old boy network and it has to stop. The majority of the work is going to large nonprofits.”

In recent months, Pyramid Builders has received about 20 referrals within the Boston area. But Mims says that his company is virtually shut out of cities such as Brockton and Lynn, which have significant minority populations. The tragedy, Mims explained, is that his company provides family stabilization services that “other agencies are not able or capable” of delivering.