UMass Pediatrician Hired As DCF's First Medical Director

BOSTON (CBS) --  The Department of Children and Families has hired Dr. Linda Sagor as its first full-time medical director, the agency announced Tuesday.

Sagor's position was part of the recommended reforms highlighted after a review of the agency's operation.

"Dr. Sagor is a nationally recognized expert on the medical needs of foster children and will provide the kind of high level of medical scrutiny needed on DCF's most complex cases," Secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders said in a public statement.

Sagor, a Boxboro resident, is the founder and director of the Foster Children Evaluation Services Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. She is also the director of the Division of General Pediatrics at UMass Memorial Health Care.

"Few pediatricians have a better understanding of our foster children's needs than Dr. Sagor," said DCF Commissioner Linda Spears.

In September, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker announced a series of agency reforms after a publicly challenging year of complex cases.

A 2-year-old girl in foster care died in August after being found unresponsive at an apartment complex in Auburn. The circumstances of the death are still being investigated.

Earlier this summer it was the case of Jack Loiselle, a 7-year-old Hardwick boy who police say was beaten and starved by his father before falling into a coma. A report found the Department of Children and Families failed to pull together multiple abuse reports to adequately protect the boy.

Then came the identification of Bella as the toddler whose body was found on a Boston-area beach in June. DCF said the agency had been involved with the girl twice when she was an infant in 2012 and 2013. The cases were then closed.