It's been over two years since Haleigh Poutre entered Massachusetts Department of Social Services custody, and clutching her daughters' picture is as close as biological mother, Allison Avrett, can get to her. The only updates she gets is from the news.

"I'll have neighbors telling me, your daughter was on the news yesterday and I didn't know," Avrett says.

The news gave her two stories Tuesday. The first is that Haleigh, is now communicating with investigators. Still hindered by the injuries allegedly sustained at the hands of her foster parents, Haleigh, spoke in simple words detailing her abuse, saying foster parents Jason and Holli Strickland regularly used physical punishment.

"If she has said it, without a doubt, from the little bits that we did see of her, yeah," Avrett says nodding in agreement.

The last time she saw her daughter was in July 2006. Since then, she says hasn't heard anything about her daughter from D.S.S.

"They have nobody to answer to and they hide everything," Avrett says.

A federal watchdog group agrees. Written by the Children's Advocacy Institute, a report released Tuesday charges D.S.S. with "adhering to misguided and secretive policies that place confidentiality above the welfare of children." The state received a D-.

In Northampton, Governor Patrick chimed in. While he hasn't read the report, he has this to say about Social Services.

"We want DSS to be as successful as possible because they are dealing with some of the most vulnerable citizens in the Commonwealth," Patrick says.

One of those vulnerable children is Haleigh Poutre.

"What they have said is that she has needs, and apparently, we don't need to know what those needs are," Avrett says.

To read the full Children's Advocacy Institute report, click on this link.