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	DSS Inaction on Abuse Report Probed By Brian R. Ballou Boston Globe May 17, 2007 http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/05/17/dss_inaction_on_abuse_report_probed/ The Department of Social Services has launched an internal investigation to determine why no apparent action was taken on a 2005 report that a Baptist pastor had sexually abused a teenage boy from Dorchester. The Emmanuel Gospel Center, which partners with local churches on outreach programs, says it contacted DSS in May 2005 alleging that the Rev. Lawrence Brown had sexually abused a teenage boy at his church, the Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Boston, as well as in other settings. Denise Monteiro, spokeswoman for DSS, said the agency is investigating whether it interpreted the correspondence correctly. "We're just trying to unravel this whole thing," she said. Brown, who directed youth ministries at the center, was fired by the center in May 2005. He stepped down as pastor of Mount Calvary the same year, but continues to work at the church. The alleged victim, now 18, said late last year that Brown had groped him on several occasions when he was 14, culminating with a more serious sexual assault during a church retreat in New Hampshire. The Globe does not identify minors who are alleged victims of sexual abuse without their consent. A team of DSS investigators visited Mount Calvary late yesterday but Monteiro would not discuss the purpose of the visit. Churches are required by law, as mandatory reporters, to notify DSS of any allegations of child abuse. Monteiro said DSS received a second alert about the allegations in November 2006 and forwarded the case to the Suffolk district attorney's office. A spokesman said the office launched an investigation last December, about 17 months after the fax was sent from the Emmanuel Center to DSS. The allegations were reported Tuesday by the Boston Herald. Crystal Dixon served as acting director of the center during the time the allegations surfaced. She said she called DSS on May 6, 2005 to report the alleged abuse by Brown and the same day faxed the agency a written 51-A report, the state's official child-abuse form, documenting the allegations. When officials at the center called again on May 10, a DSS representative told them they did not have the report on file. Dixon said she faxed the form again the same day, and that this time she called DSS after sending it. "They confirmed they had received the report," she said. As weeks passed, Dixon said, she and other administrators at the center became concerned because they had not heard from DSS. "I don't have a good time frame, but it wasn't more than a month later that I contacted the father of the boy," Dixon said. "I asked him if he had been visited by DSS yet, and he explained no. "I didn't hear anything from DSS after that. I was just at the point of thinking OK, hopefully the system is working." She said officials at the center were disappointed by the lack of initial response to the allegations. "More importantly we didn't want the child to be victimized, to think that people didn't care," she said.
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