A state audit is underway to investigate the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families worker who handled the case of a woman whose 2-year-old daughter, Bella, became known as "Baby Doe" when her body washed up on Deer Island over the summer, the Boston Herald reports.
It comes days after the Office of the Child Advocate released a report that found the DCF fell short in protecting Bella and failed to ensure Bond could adequately care for her. The agency had been working with Bond and her daughter long before Bella was found dead in June.
Bond and her boyfriend, Michael McCarthy, have been charged in connection with Bella's death.
The report also found that the social worker copied information from a 2006 assessment report, filed six years before Bella’s birth. State officials said the caseworker is now working in a different role, but it's not yet clear what kind of discipline that person may face, if any.
According to the Herald, the audit will focus on the case from 2013, when the DCF was tasked with investigating allegations of abuse and neglect.
"It is clear that the Department of Children and Families should have not closed the case in 2013," Child Advocate Maria Mossaides said earlier this week.
