Regional News
Governor Healey Signs Landmark Child Welfare Reform Legislation
New law strengthens protections for children, expands family supports, increases transparency and accountability, including creating a Foster Child Bill of Rights
BOSTON - Governor Maura Healey signed An Act enhancing child welfare protections into law, one of the most significant updates to Massachusetts' child welfare system in decades. The legislation strengthens protections for children in foster care, expands support for families before they reach a crisis, improves educational stability for children involved with the child welfare system, and increases transparency and accountability across state government. It establishes a Foster Child Bill of Rights to ensure children are treated with dignity, have their rights protected, and receive the support they need to succeed. The law also modernizes the Child Requiring Assistance (CRA) process by emphasizing community-based services that help families access support before court involvement becomes necessary.
"Every child deserves the opportunity to grow up safe, supported and set up to succeed, and every family deserves somewhere to turn before a challenge becomes a crisis," said Governor Maura Healey. "We're building one of the strongest child and family support systems in the country by strengthening protections for children, expanding community-based support for families and making our child welfare system more transparent and accountable. I'm grateful to our partners in the Legislature, the Office of the Child Advocate and the many advocates, providers and families who helped shape this legislation."
"Families across the country are facing challenges and hardships, and we see the impact it has on families and communities in our state," said Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll. "That's why our administration is committed to strengthening preventive and community-based services for children and families. This bill will reduce barriers for families and help families access support before challenges become a crisis."
"In my role as a practicing physician, I have seen firsthand the positive impact that access to the right services and supports can have on a family facing difficult circumstances," said Secretary for Health and Human Services Kiame Mahaniah, MD. "This legislation recognizes that healthy children, strong families, and thriving communities depend on access to effective preventive services and support."
"We are grateful to the Legislature, the Office of the Child Advocate, and our partners for working with us on this comprehensive legislation," said Department of Children and Families Commissioner Staverne Miller. "This bill demonstrates our shared commitment to transparency, accountability, and strengthening the support available to children and families, while continuing our work to support them before and during times of crisis."
"I am grateful for this legislation that represents a major step forward for the well being of children and families across Massachusetts, helps safeguard the rights of children in state care, and moves children towards community resources rather than court involvement," said Marisol García, The Child Advocate. "We also thank the Legislature and Governor Healey for providing my office with additional tools to do our work and enhance our oversight. We look forward to working with our partners to implement them in a way that improves outcomes for children and families."
"This bill reflects our commitment to ensuring the Commonwealth's most vulnerable children and youth have access to the health outcomes and educational opportunities they deserve," said House Speaker Ronald J. Mariano. "It gives our child welfare agencies the tools they need, provides transparency into how the state is performing, and strengthens independent oversight to examine problems system-wide. I'm thankful to Governor Healey for signing this critical legislation into law, as well as Chair Livingstone and my colleagues in the House, along with our partners in the Senate, for their work on this important issue."
"As both a social worker and a legislator, I know firsthand that when everyone in the Commonwealth has access to opportunity and the tools to succeed, our whole state is stronger for it. For the children in our state and foster care system, those tools may sound simple, but they're profound: knowing they're safe, knowing they're cared for, staying connected to their community, and understanding their own rights," said Senate President Karen E. Spilka. "This bill builds on work I've been proud to lead for years--first as Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities, and through championing community-based services with the creation of Family Resource Centers. I'm deeply grateful to Senator Robyn Kennedy for driving this legislation forward, to Senator Comerford for chairing the conference committee, to my Senate colleagues and our partners in the House for their support, and to the Governor for signing this bill into law."
"This law reflects our shared responsibility to the children of the Commonwealth--especially those who have experienced abuse, entered foster care, or are navigating crises," said Senator Jo Comerford, Co-Chair of the Conference Committee and Vice Chair of Senate Ways and Means. "It affirms that every child deserves not only protection, but support, stability, dignity, and the opportunity to build the future they deserve. This law makes meaningful, systemwide advances--from establishing a Foster Child Bill of Rights to strengthening education continuity, family supports, and system accountability. It makes our child welfare system more responsive, transparent, and compassionate. I am grateful to legislative colleagues, Governor Maura Healey, and her Administration for acting swiftly and decisively on behalf of the youngest in the Commonwealth."
"This bill strengthens the systems that protect the Commonwealth's most vulnerable children, it provides new tools to schools, courts, and child welfare agencies to improve educational, health, and safety outcomes for our most vulnerable children. The bill also mandates more public reporting to better understand what's working and identify where improvement is needed. I want to thank Speaker Mariano, Chair Michlewitz, Senator Comerford, Representative Garcia, and the other conferees for their commitment to these issues and work to achieve this result. I thank Governor Healey for signing this bill into law and for her Administration's commitment to children and families," said Representative Jay D. Livingstone, House Chair of the Joint Committee on Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities, and Co-Chair of the Conference Committee.
"An Act Enhancing Child Welfare Protections makes important changes to improve the efficiency, transparency, accountability, and performance of the Department of Children and Families (DCF), the Office of the Child Advocate (OCA), and the Children Requiring Assistance (CRA) systems," said Senator Robyn K. Kennedy, Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities. "These long-needed improvements to our child welfare ecosystem have passed because of the tireless work of so many--because of their efforts, Massachusetts will be a better place for our children to learn and grow. Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it also takes a village to make policy that helps all the children of the Commonwealth thrive."
"Children only get one childhood, and every decision we make should reaffirm our commitment to making that childhood a safe one. This law strengthens the protections children and families need while giving child welfare professionals better tools to keep children safe. I am grateful to Governor Healey for signing this legislation into law and to Speaker Mariano for the opportunity to work alongside my House and Senate colleagues to bring this bill across the finish line." said Representative Judith Garcia.
"Every child should have the opportunity to thrive in a safe and stable environment, surrounded by adults who are committed to their success. I'm grateful to my fellow conferees for their hard work in advancing this important legislation across the finish line. Together, we have taken meaningful steps to strengthen our child welfare system by safeguarding the rights of children in foster care by increasing accountability across state agencies. These reforms demonstrate our shared and lasting commitment to supporting children and families, ensuring that every young person has the protections and opportunities they need to succeed," said Senator Patrick M. O'Connor.
"Every child in Massachusetts deserves to grow up safe, supported, and seen, and this legislation brings us closer to that promise for our most vulnerable young people. I am grateful to Governor Healey for her steadfast commitment to children and families across the Commonwealth, and to Senate President Spilka and Senator Kennedy for their leadership in bringing this bill forward. I look forward to seeing it signed into law." - Senator Joan Lovely.
The law includes a broad range of reforms designed to better protect children, strengthen families and improve oversight of the child welfare system, including:
Increasing Transparency and Accountability
The law streamlines and modernizes the Department of Children and Families' (DCF) oversight and reporting requirements by creating an Annual Report, Quarterly Profile Reports, a Fair Hearing Report, a Foster Care Review Report, and a Transition-Aged Youth Report to track the department's performance. The law also allows DCF to publish these reports through accessible online dashboards on Mass.gov and requires the department to develop a five-year strategic plan with measurable goals for improving child safety, permanency and well-being in each region of Massachusetts.
Strengthening Children's Rights
The law creates a comprehensive Bill of Rights for children and young adults in DCF care, ensuring they are treated with dignity and respect and protecting their rights to safety, privacy, health care, education, family and sibling connections, participation in decisions about their care, and support as they transition to adulthood. This law also provides access to records and personal documents, attorney contact, participation in case planning and court/permanency processes, and transition planning for older youth.
Expanding Support for Families
The law modernizes the Child Requiring Assistance (CRA) process to help families get support earlier by strengthening Family Resource Centers, expanding the services they can provide, requiring multidisciplinary teams to support families with complex needs, and helping families connect with community-based services before challenges become crises or involvement with the child welfare system. The legislation also updates the CRA process by limiting it to children ages 12 to 18 who are not in DCF or DYS custody, generally requiring families to first connect with a Family Resource Center before most parent- or school-filed court cases can proceed, expanding confidentiality and record expungement protections, and updating hearing and placement procedures.
Helping Children Stay on Track in School
The law strengthens educational support for children in foster care to improve school stability and educational outcomes. It formally establishes DCF's Education Unit in state law, subject to available funding, to help improve educational outcomes for children in foster care. It also requires DCF and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to adopt regulations that help children enroll in school without delay while allowing schools to gather necessary records after enrollment. The law also creates a special commission to study a digital education portfolio system so educational records can better follow children in foster care.
Strengthens Communication with Children's Attorneys
The law strengthens communication between DCF and children's attorneys by ensuring they are promptly informed about significant events affecting the children they represent. It requires DCF to notify a child's attorney about placement changes, hospitalizations, abuse or neglect reports, arrests, and significant school disciplinary actions. The law also requires automated notifications through the DCF Attorney Portal.
Expanding the Office of the Child Advocate
The law expands the authority and independence of the Office of the Child Advocate to strengthen oversight of Massachusetts' child welfare system. It expands the office's oversight of child-serving agencies, broadens critical incident oversight, authorizes systemwide reviews, provides additional resources for mandated reporters, creates online resources about the CRA process, and requires periodic reviews of child welfare data reporting.
Improving Child Fatality Reviews
The law strengthens child fatality reviews by giving the Office of the Child Advocate a greater leadership role in overseeing the review process. It makes the Office of the Child Advocate and the Department of Public Health co-chairs of the State and Local Child Fatality Review Teams, leveraging the Child Advocate's expertise to strengthen oversight and identify opportunities to better protect children.
Supporting Families After Tragedy
The law provides resources for grieving families by ensuring they have access to information and support following the sudden unexplained death of a child. It requires the Office of the Child Advocate to create and maintain publicly available information and resources for parents who have experienced a sudden unexplained pediatric death.
Extending Court Protections
The law ensures abuse and harassment prevention orders continue protecting children into adulthood. It prevents protection orders issued on behalf of a child from automatically expiring when the child turns 18, preserving that individual's ability to ask the court to extend the order or make it permanent.
Gardening
Capture the Beauty of Your Garden with Flower Art
Use watercolor or other rough surface paper when pounding flowers onto paper.
Photo courtesy of www.MelindaMyers.com
Transfer the beauty of favorite flowers onto paper or fabric to create works of art, greeting cards and gifts for family and friends. Pounding flowers is a fun and easy way gardeners of all ages can preserve the beauty of garden flowers.
Use watercolor or other rough surface paper when pounding on paper. Purchase ready to dye (RTD) or prepared for dying (PFD) fabric or prepare the fabric yourself. Supplies and directions can be found at most craft stores.
Prepare the space before pounding flowers onto paper or fabric. Use a large cutting board or piece of wood to protect the furniture below. Consider moving the project outside onto the sidewalk or other surface that can't be damaged by the pounding.
Cover the work surface with wax paper and secure it in place with masking tape to prevent the flower color from soaking through onto the cutting board. Cut the fabric to size and secure it or the paper to the board with masking tape.
Take a walk through the garden and gather a few favorite flowers and leaves. Look for flowers with thin brightly colored petals and leaves for the easiest and best results. Consider starting with rose, daisy, geranium, petunia, and pansy petals although any flowers and leaves can work. Remove or reduce the size of the large center of coneflowers, black-eyed Susans and similar blooms so they lay flat on the fabric. Or remove the petals, discard the center, and arrange as desired.
Remove stems, sepals, or other plant parts you do not want to transfer. Place the desired parts face down on the paper or fabric and arrange as desired.
Once the design is set, cover it with several layers of paper towel or another sheet of watercolor paper. Tape the leaves and petals in place on fabric to help reduce the risk of the petals moving during the pounding process.
Gently tap the leaves and flowers using the flat side of a hammer. Next, evenly hammer from one side of the design to the other, making sure to hit every part of each plant.
Once the color is transferred, lift the paper covering and remove the crushed flowers and leaves from the paper along with the tape from the fabric. Allow the design to dry and carefully brush off any remaining plant pieces.
Set the design on fabric using an iron set to the hottest setting without steam. This sets the colors but will not make it washable. Preserve the bright colors of works of art on paper with a UV protective acrylic spray. Be sure to read and follow label directions and apply in a well-ventilated area.
Pounding flowers is a simple way to transfer a plant's natural dye onto paper or fabric. Plan to get together with family and friends to create works of art, greeting cards and more. For more gardening projects visit MelindaMyers.com.
Melinda Myers has written over 20 gardening books, including The Midwest Gardener's Handbook, 2nd Edition and Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses "How to Grow Anything" instant video series and the nationally-syndicated Melinda's Garden Moment radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine. Her website is www.MelindaMyers.com.