BOSTON (WHDH) - State leaders and advocates met on Beacon Hill Tuesday to discuss efforts to protect children in a hearing in honor of Harmony Montgomery — a young girl last seen in 2019 but not reported missing until 2021.
Montgomery was in Massachusetts state custody before she was handed over to her father in New Hampshire. Authorities have since said Harmony’s father, Adam, allegedly killed his daughter.
Now hoping to form the “Harmony Commission” state leaders are hoping to make sure what happened to Harmony does not happen to other children.
“Right now, a priority is looking at the reunification of the child with its family,” said State Sen. Michael Moore. “Reunification doesn’t always necessarily mean the best safety and welfare of the child.”
The Harmony Commission would work to balance the rights of parents with the needs of children. Speaking to the Committee on Children and Families on Tuesday, Blair Miller said such balance did not happen in Harmony’s case.
“She never had a chance,” Miller said.
Miller and his husband, Johnathon Miller, adopted Harmony’s half-brother, Jamison, in 2019.
Speaking to legislators, Blair and Johnathon brought with them an Elmo stuffed animal that Harmony gave Jamison when the two were separated and sent to different homes.
“This decision both introduced murder, tragedy and heartache to our family,” Johnathon said. “My husband and I never got to meet Harmony but her memory lives on through the stories that Jamison shares with us.”
Blair and Johnathon said they got no guidance from the state or cooperation from Harmony’s father. As a result, they were unable to keep Harmony and Jamison in contact.
“He talks about her blue eyes. He talks about her blonde hair,” Blair said of Jamison. “He’d want to see that. And, if we thought for a second that that looked out of the normal, you got to believe that we would have been saying something.”
Advocates say the system also failed 14-year-old David Almond of Fall River, a teen with autism who was starved to death at the hands of his father.
Speaking this week, advocates said change must come now.
“Otherwise, I think everyone should accept that there will be more child fatalities in Massachusetts,” said Judge Carol Erskine.
The current proposal being discussed by lawmakers is in its beginning stages.
With an effort to put children first and introduce sibling visitation, though, lawmakers hope to move the proposal along.
“We owe it to Harmony that we see her now, perhaps more clearly than we ever have, and use that insight to move the conversation about child protective services forward in a productive way,” said Sen. Carol Doherty.
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