Families, advocates and lawmakers gathered once again Tuesday coming to ask the Massachusetts Legislature to create the Harmony Montgomery Commission – in honor of the foster child who was allegedly murdered by her father in December 2019.
The state and courts turned over Harmony to her father, who is now indicted for her murder.
“Our system tragically fails this little person,” State Rep. Carol Doherty, a Democrat representing the 3rd Bristol district, said.
“She never had a chance,” said Blair Miller, who adopted Harmony’s biological brother.
Supporters say a proposed new commission would bring together experts from child welfare, the courts, and state officials to examine how cases involving vulnerable children are handled, and how the state weighs the best interest of a child while upholding constitutionally protected parental rights.
“What is the best interest of the child and the representation from the state,” State Sen. Michael Moore, a Democrat representing the 2nd Worcester district, said. “As we saw in this case, it was reunification over the safety issues of the child.”
Sen. Moore and Rep. Doherty are co-sponsoring the bill calling for the commission.
Anchor and Investigative Reporter Kerry Kavanaugh has followed the story from the beginning.
Kavanaugh broke the story last year when lawmakers tried to create this commission through a budget amendment. It died during reconciliation.
The Office of the Child Advocate had recommended the state launch the commission in a scathing 2022 report.
This session, a bill was filed to create the Harmony Montgomery Commission.
Advocates say this commission is necessary to ensure the state is prioritizing the safety and well-being of the thousands of kids in state care.
Retired first justice of the juvenile court of Worcester, Carol Erskine, helped write the legislation.
“To have a commission looking at what’s in the best interest of these children, I think is key to preventing child fatalities in the future in Massachusetts,” Erskine said.
In 2022, we learned Harmony’s disappearance went unnoticed and unreported for two years.
As 25 Investigates has documented, Harmony and her little brother Jamison were in and out of the foster care system for much of their young lives. Ultimately, they were separated.
In February of 2019, a judge granted custody of Harmony to her biological father, Adam Montgomery. He lived in New Hampshire and had a long criminal history and little to no history with his daughter.
25 Investigates obtained documents showing Manchester Police and local child welfare authorities were aware of problems at the home where Montgomery lived with her father as early as August of 2019.
And, as 25 Investigates was first to report, Harmony left Massachusetts without an interstate agreement in place to check up on her.
“What’s being done to change the system, what’s being done to prevent another Harmony Montgomery from happening?” Miller said. “And the truth is, nothing has changed in the time that people have known about this.”
Blair Miller – our own Washington Correspondent – and Jonathan Bobbit-Miller are the adoptive dads of Jamison, Harmony’s little brother. They came to Boston to support calls for the commission.
The two said they tried to keep Jamison connected to his sister but got no help from the state.
“And we tried every avenue from DCF, from his birth mom, we reached out to her birth father and the stepmom, and we were met with roadblocks every turn,” Bobbit-Miller said.
Now, they say Jamison is left with heartbreaking questions – questions they hope no other child will have to ask.
Bobbit-Miller said: “Why did someone hurt my sister? Why did no one protect her? And can she see me from heaven?”
“Yes, we know they have a lot going on,” Blair Miller said. “But if we’re not taking care of our kids, what are we doing?”
Harmony’s body has never been found.
This year, Adam was found guilty of all charges in his firearms trial.
Adam is facing charges of second-degree murder, tampering with witnesses and informants, falsifying physical evidence, and abuse of a corpse in his daughter’s death.
The murder trial could begin later this year.
“Harmony was literally handed over to someone she barely knew because he was a blood relative and he was also accused of attempted murder,” Bobbit-Miller said. “But yet it was the best placement for her. That decision that day sealed her fate.”
Committee members will now vote this favorably or unfavorably out of committee.
And depending on how that goes, it could move on to Ways and Means.
25 Investigates will follow the legislation every step of the way.
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