How Should Parents Understand the MA DCF Assessment?
The Massachusetts (hereinafter “MA”) Department of Children and Families (MA DCF) will start a family assessment after DCF completed their investigation of a family. So what is a MA DCF assessment? A DCF assessment is when a social worker works with a family to see if they need any help or services. But to understand exactly what a family assessment is, you need to understand how the DCF investigation process works. You must also understand important DCF definitions.
Parenting is one of the hardest jobs to have. Some parents do not have the emotional or financial support they need to care for their children. Some parents are doing it alone; they don’t have anyone to turn to for help when they’re exhausted. Unfortunately, DCF fails to recognize these parental hardships sometimes. DCF has the power to remove your children from your home. The Department only investigates cases that meet their criteria of child abuse or neglect. DCF will not start an assessment when a case fails to meet their definition of child abuse or neglect.
How Does MA DCF Define Abuse and Neglect?
DCF’s official definition of abuse is when a parent/caregiver voluntarily injures a child physically or emotionally. This includes sexual, physical, and emotional abuse.
DCF’s official definition of neglect is the failure of a caregiver that is either deliberately or not gives the inability, to take actions necessary to provide a child with minimally adequate food, clothing, shelter, medical care, supervision, emotional stability and growth, or other essential care, including malnutrition or failure to thrive. DCF is supposed to be understanding of the financial impediments and handicapping conditions some parents face.
Sometimes parents work hard and long hours to feed their children. Every day stress can also make taking care of children challenging. Even though doing these things do not mean that a parent is being neglectful, sometimes DCF still considers it to be neglect. Make sure you hire a lawyer who is experienced in DCF law so that your rights are not violated and you can call DCF out for doing what they are not supposed to do.
How Does MA DCF Become Involved?
In MA, when anyone suspects that a child is being abused or neglected, they can report it to the MA DCF. Professionals who work closely with children, such as doctors, teachers, psychologists, and police officers are called mandated reporters. Non mandated reporters are people who do not professionally work with
children but have a reasonable cause to believe that child abuse or neglect may be happening. There are also anonymous reporters who report child abuse or neglect anonymously.
When MA DCF receives a call of suspected child abuse or neglect, they will write a report describing the situation. This is called the 51A report. Then the report will be either screened-in or screened-out. A report is screened out when the actions being reported are not considered abuse or neglect. Or a report is screened out when the family already has an open case with MA DCF. MA DCF will screened in reports when they believe the child abuse or neglect allegations are true.
A DCF social worker will be assigned to your case. When the report is labeled an emergency response, MA DCF assesses a child’s safety within 2 hours, visits and interviews the family within 24 hours. DCF may take up to 5 business days to complete the investigation. When the report is a non-emergency response the MA DCF will assess the child’s safety within 3 business days. DCF may take up to 15 business days to complete the investigation.
How to Handle Your Action Plan in Your MA DCF Assessment?
The DCF family assessment is to see when the family needs any help or services. When this happens, you will get a new social worker to handle your case; the first social worker handling your case was the MA DCF investigator. The assessment usually happens after the department has supported a decision of child abuse and neglect.
The MA DCF investigation or assessment will usually take 45 days. The MA DCF social worker will help you and your family to become stronger with an action plan during the assessment. It will describe the services the MA DCF will provide for you and your children.
The purpose of the action plan is to strengthen your family and keep your children safe. You should be involved with the action plan and know what’s included. Depending on your needs, the MA DCF will connect you to people in your community who offer supportive services during the family assessment. When you have a child younger than three, your plan will include a referral to an early intervention program.
To have a successful assessment, get a top MA DCF lawyer to help you prepare for it. Your attorney will help you with the preparations of the questions and answers to give the investigator. At the end of the assessment, the MA DCF will either keep their decision and put the children into better care, or they will reverse their decision.
What If You Disagree With The DCF’s Decision?
When DCF has falsely supported allegations of child abuse against you or when you disagree with DCF’s
decision, you have the right to fight against DCF. Write a letter to MA DCF stating your disagreement and the facts. Ask DCF to add the letter to your file.
If you believe MA DCF did not follow rules when deciding the outcome of the report, you can request a fair hearing. The fair hearing process enables people to go against the decision that the MA DCF has given them and have a fair representation to challenge the decision. You must submit this request within 30 of receiving the notice of the decision.
If there are other decisions you may disagree with, you can initiate a grievance process by sending a written complaint within 30 days to the area office.
DISCLAIMER
You find yourself in this situation, it’s advisable to seek legal representation from a qualified attorney, like those at the Law Office of Kevin Seaver, who can advocate for your rights and guide you through the complex process of a DCF investigation.
Remember that the ultimate goal of DCF is to ensure the safety and well-being of children while supporting families in crisis.
Please note that this article does not create an Attorney-Client relationship between our law firm and the reader and is provided for informational purposes only. Information in this article does not apply to all readers.
Readers should not rely on this information as legal advice and should seek specific counsel from the attorney based on personal circumstances. Thank you.
Kevin Patrick Seaver is a Massachusetts DCF Defense Lawyer who represents parents against false child abuse allegations.
Massachusetts DCF Defense Lawyer Kevin Seaver has been successfully fighting false child abuse allegations since 1991.