DSS acting in ‘good faith;’ minority vendors disagree

Howard Manly

In what can only be described as a patronizing letter, state Department of Social Services (DSS) Commissioner Angelo McClain disputed claims made by minority social workers and published in the Bay State Banner that they were being unfairly excluded from the agency’s vendor referral list to help troubled families.

In the letter, dated Sept. 18, the recently appointed McClain wrote that his office has “acted in good faith” with the Black Mental Health Alliance “and will continue to do so.”

As evidence of that “good faith,” McClain wrote that in fiscal year 2006, DSS purchased nearly $2 million in services from two members of the Black Mental Health Alliance — $1,513,333 from The Osiris Group and another $423,480 from Pyramid Builders Association.

“In fact, DSS contracts for [the two groups] … together were 27 percent of the total dollars expended statewide for their model of service, with 39 other providers sharing the remaining 73 percent,” McClain explained in the letter. “Clearly, these numbers dispel the claim that they are not receiving any business from DSS.”

But the numbers offered by McClain only tell part of the story. His letter fails to provide any details on the much larger pool of money available for other types of family services that Osiris, Pyramid Builders and other black vendors would be qualified to provide, but are not given the opportunity to do so. Nor does the letter break down the amounts of money awarded to large nonprofit companies acting as lead agencies that determine which families are referred to which vendors.

Nor does the letter address the central focus of the Banner’s Sept. 13 article — that social workers are being told to limit referrals to black-owned vendors.

Osiris Group Founder and Chief Executive Officer Larry Higginbottom readily admits that he received a little more than $1.5 million from DSS in fiscal year 2006.

“But based on our quality of work and the reputation that we have earned in our industry, that number should be between $4 million and $5 million,” Higginbottom said. “No one wants to address the issue of the DSS and some of their lead agencies telling parents and social workers not to give us business.”

The point, Higginbottom explains, is that quality should dictate who gets the business — not what he and others have described as an “old boy network” that rewards companies for whom they know, rather than what they can accomplish.

The discriminatory practice appears at odds with DSS’ own stated goals on diversity and cultural competence for its “Family Networks” service.

“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.”

The diversity and cultural competence goals are important, black mental health providers explain, because DSS estimates that 50 percent of their clients who need services are African American and Latino families.

And client referrals comprise only a fraction of state money available to provide mental health services throughout the state. As it is now, Higginbottom explained, minority companies are locked out of the larger slice of the agency’s “Family Networks” pool of money. That money can be found in out-of-home placements, comprising group homes, residential settings and specialized foster care, all of which require the type of counseling that Black Mental Health Alliance members can provide.

“The only pool that we can draw from is referrals,” Higginbottom said. “There is no guaranteed money in referrals and they are only three months in duration — and that’s if everything works out. Even if we get referrals, we still need to be out here 24 hours a day, seven days a week, trying to get new business. Once the referrals dry up, our business could be gone.”

Higginbottom and other mental health providers have complained about the DSS distribution system for the last four years, to little avail. They even met with McClain shortly after he arrived in Boston to make him aware of the ongoing problem.

In the Banner’s Sept. 13 story, Dr. Omar Reid, president of the 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 told the Banner. “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.”

Instead of addressing the apparent discriminatory practices, McClain wrote about all of the help the state has offered and given to some of the black-owned companies.

The agency “has provided direct technical assistance to Pyramid Builders to ensure that they met the requirements for a DSS contract,” McClain wrote. “… More recently, staff from the Executive Office of Health and Human Services offered to assist all members of the Alliance in the process to become qualified to receive Medicaid Insurance payments for eligible children receiving their services, thereby potentially increasing their client pool even beyond those served by DSS.”

McClain also pointed out that only one member of the alliance took advantage of their offer to help on Medicaid payments.

DSS “recognizes the important value that minority providers bring to the therapeutic process for minority families,” McClain wrote. “We continue to be committed in investing in ways that insure a strong, viable provider network able to deliver the best possible services to the children and families in our care.”

On that score, Higginbottom was unmoved.

“We are not here for any special consideration or quotas because we are a minority-owned business,” Higginbottom said. “We provide a quality service, and that is what the distribution should be about. What we have received is peanuts based on our quality of work. We are a grassroots organization that should be applauded for [our] work, not worked against by putting some artificial cap on how much we can earn.”