Report: Mass. Could Have Prevented Sisters' Arson Deaths

A report by the state's Child Advocate says state workers failed to recognize the risk faced by two sisters who died in a South Boston arson fire, allegedly set by their mother's girlfriend.

WBUR's Monica Brady-Myerov reports.

The report says case workers with the Department of Social Services, now called the Department of Children and Families, failed to connect the dots to understand how much danger Acia and Sohpia Reisopoulos-Johnson faced before they died in an arson fire in South Boston.

The family's involvement with state social workers dates back to 1995, but Child Advocate Gail Garinger says there was a lapse of institutional memory among the case workers.

GARINGER: One thing we found when reviewing records was how difficult it really was to get longitudinal view to appreciate all of the information that people had known earlier on in the case.

Garinger recommends the department find a better way to share information and capture salient points that have happened over an extended case.