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S 106

Limitation on alien land ownership

2025-2026 Regular Session Introduced by Rex Rice

Transfers foster-care case reviews to the independent Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate, centralizing and standardizing semiannual reviews and oversight.

Referred to Committee on Judiciary
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Bill Summary · S 106

Summary — S.106 (2025): Transfers foster care review responsibilities to the Office of the Child Advocate

Status (major steps)
- Introduced: Jan 16, 2025.
- Committee activity: Referred to Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities; hearing scheduled 07/08/2025.
- Senate action: Passed Senate and delivered to the House/Assembly (June 11, 2025).
- Current procedural note: bill text reorganizes existing statutes and establishes new duties for the Office of the Child Advocate.

Purpose / intent
- To transfer statutory responsibility for periodic foster‑care case reviews to the Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate (OCA), establish the OCA as an independent agency with authority to conduct semiannual administrative foster‑care reviews, and create an interdisciplinary advisory/committee structure to oversee case‑specific and systemic issues affecting children, youth and young adults in foster care.

Key provisions and changes
- Organizational change
- Strikes existing statutory language (chapter 18B §6A) and amends chapter 18C to vest foster‑care review responsibilities in the Office of the Child Advocate.
- Repeats / redefines statutory terms (e.g., “foster care placement,” “foster care review,” “local panel,” “parties,” “permanency,” “secretary”).
- Declares the OCA an independent state agency "not subject to the supervision and control" of other executive offices or agencies.

  • Case review authority and schedule

    • The child advocate must conduct foster‑care case reviews at least every six months for every child, youth, or young adult in foster care placement.
    • The OCA is designated as the sole entity to conduct the periodic administrative reviews required under the federal Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980.

  • Local panels and volunteers

    • The child advocate will designate local foster‑care review panels composed of trained volunteer citizen reviewers (organized geographically to match departmental service areas).
    • The bill requires recruitment standards, initial and in‑service training, panel procedures, and recordkeeping for local panels.

  • Duties, reporting and data access

    • OCA must develop policies/procedures for scheduling reviews, notice to parties, individual case review reports (findings and recommendations), dissemination and follow‑up.
    • OCA shall have access to relevant department records and case files for reviews.
    • Individual case reports are to be provided to all parties for judicial consideration and child safety/permanency planning.
    • OCA must produce periodic and annual aggregate reports for the Legislature, Governor, Secretary of HHS, the Department of Children & Families, chief justices of relevant courts, and the public.

  • Interdisciplinary committee

    • Establishes a committee within the advisory council chaired by the child advocate with commissioner‑level or designee representation from multiple agencies (DCF, DDS, DESE, DMH, DPH, DTA, DYS, MRC, OCA).
    • Committee to convene at least monthly to resolve escalated case issues and address systemic barriers to permanency; may include experts focused on transition‑age youth, marginalized communities, and LGBTQ+ needs.

Who is affected
- Primary: children, youth and young adults in state foster‑care placements; their families and legal parties.
- State actors: Office of the Child Advocate (expanded duties/independence), Department of Children and Families (data sharing/engagement), multiple executive agencies participating on the interdisciplinary committee.
- Courts: juvenile and probate & family courts (receive case review reports for consideration).
- Volunteers: citizen reviewers recruited and trained to serve on local panels.

Potential impacts and considerations
- Aims to increase oversight, transparency, and accountability of foster‑care case reviews and to centralize administrative review functions in a statutorily independent OCA.
- May improve timeliness of reviews, cross‑agency coordination, and public reporting on foster‑care system performance.
- Implementation will require funding, staffing, training infrastructure, and secure data‑sharing agreements; privacy and confidentiality safeguards will be important given expanded record access.
- Explicitly aligns state administrative review responsibility with the federal requirement for periodic review of children in foster care.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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