| Organization: | Office of the State Auditor |
|---|---|
| Date published: | October 7, 2024 |
Executive Summary
In accordance with Section 12 of Chapter 11 of the Massachusetts General Laws, the Office of the State Auditor has conducted a performance audit of the Office of the Child Advocate (OCA) for the period July 1, 2020 through March 31, 2022.
The purpose of this audit was to determine the following:
- whether OCA advised the public and government stakeholders about how the Commonwealth may improve its services to and for children and their families as required by Section 2(d) of Chapter 18C of the General Laws;
- whether OCA developed formal policies and procedures for how it develops temporary cost share agreements as required by Section 2(e) of Chapter 18C of the General Laws; and
- whether OCA met the requirements of its interdepartmental service agreements (ISAs) relevant to the Commonwealth’s enacted budgetary language for fiscal years 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Below is a summary of our findings, the effects of those findings, and our recommendations, with links to each page listed.
| Finding 1 | OCA does not have documented policies and procedures for the creation of its annual reports and other published documents. |
| Effect | By not having documented policies and procedures for the creation of its annual reports, OCA risks not providing timely, relevant information to stakeholders, policymakers, and the general public, who must make decisions about the services provided to children and the issues affecting them. This can negatively impact children in Massachusetts. |
| Recommendation | OCA should document its aforementioned standard protocol for creating and issuing annual reports to better serve stakeholders and policymakers when they make decisions about the services provided to children in Massachusetts. |
| Finding 2 | OCA did not publish annual Advisory Council meeting minutes for fiscal years 2020 and 2021. |
| Effect | If OCA does not post its annual Advisory Council meeting minutes, the public and government stakeholders may not be informed of the current status of OCA activities. |
| Recommendation | OCA should publish annual Advisory Council meeting minutes. |
| Finding 3 | OCA did not report to the Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities by its deadline. |
| Effect | The Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities’ ability to review and address OCA’s child welfare concerns will be impeded by the delayed issuance of this report, creating potential negative impacts for the state government and the people it serves. |
| Recommendations |
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| Finding 4 | OCA did not have evidence that some deliverables from its ISAs were completed. |
| Effect | If OCA does not receive all deliverables outlined in the ISAs that it funds, then there is a potential waste of taxpayer dollars that could be used to provide other OCA services or fund other ISA projects. |
| Recommendations |
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| Finding 5 | OCA did not amend three ISAs in writing. |
| Effect | OCA cannot hold the agencies with which it contracts accountable if it does not amend ISAs in writing and instead relies on verbal amendments to modify these contracts. Further, OCA cannot demonstrate satisfactory completion of these contracts to the public, stakeholders, or others. |
| Recommendation | OCA should obtain written approval from the agencies with which it contracts and amend ISAs in writing to reflect verbally approved changes of ISA deliverables. |
As our audit was nearing completion, an additional area of concern regarding human trafficking prevention measures, which was outside the original scope of our objectives, came to our attention. Given the high-risk nature of this area, we analyzed it while we were still engaged with the auditee. The results of this work (covering the period July 1, 2020 through December 31, 2023) are included in the “Other Matters” section of this audit report.
Post-Audit Action
After our audit work was completed, OCA posted and released Advisory Council meeting minutes for fiscal years 2020 and 2021, which are available on OCA’s website as of the date of this report.
Table of Contents
Appendix
Downloads
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Open PDF file, 476.79 KB, Audit Report - Office of the Child Advocate (English, PDF 476.79 KB)