Gov. Maura Healey signed a trio of bills Friday pertaining to child welfare, home care licensure and seizing Norwood Hospital property, as she goes about cleaning off the plethora of bills lawmakers sent her way last week.
The child welfare law (H 5629) includes a so-called Foster Child Bill of Rights and creates a dedicated education infrastructure inside the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, requiring DCF to appoint an education director to oversee its education policy. The law also “streamlines and modernizes” DCF oversight and reporting requirements, the Healey administration said.
“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,” Healey said in a statement Friday afternoon. “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.”…