Conference committee testimony Cheat Sheet
An Act Regarding Families and Children in Need of Assistance
S.3121 | FACT SHEET
The Senate passed a Child Welfare Omnibus bill that incorporated reforms to the Child Requiring Assistance process incorporating many of the reforms in the original bill. The bill is now in a conference committee to reconcile the differences in the bills passed by the House and Senate into one bill.
These reforms got this far because of the testimony of youth, parents and providers who shared their lived experience with this part of the juvenile justice system. Use the power of your voice to get these reforms in the bill that will go to the Governor for her signature.
Instructions to Submit written testimony :
email to Jo.Comerford@masenate.gov, Robyn.Kennedy@masenate.gov, Patrick.OConnor@masenate.gov, Jay.Livingstone@mahouse.gov, Judith.Garcia@mahouse.gov, alyson.sullivan@mahouse.gov
cc: your own State Representative and Senator. Find them here.
Use subject line: “Testimony in Support of CRA Reforms (sections 2, 37, 43, 44 and 50 of S.3121)”
Address your letter to “Dear members of the An Act Enhancing Child Welfare Protections conference committee”
The Ask: make sure to include this sentence early in your letter: “I ask the Conference Committee to adopt sections 2, 37, 43, 44 and 50 of S.3121 in the final bill.”
Bill Information and Talking Points:
Re-submit testimony you submitted July 2025 to the Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities Committee changing who it is addressed to and the new bill number.
Families are often directed to file a Child Requiring Assistance (CRA) petition against their own child with the misunderstanding that courts would expedite connecting their children to services. Not only do courts have no power to fast-track children to services, court-involvement actually delays families’ ability to access these services.
20% of youth with a CRA petition received no services or supports. For CRA cases where services were provided, 71% were provided services that were NOT what the family and child needed or up to the level of service that was needed
School districts also have used the CRA process to avoid their obligations under federal and state disability laws: between 41-60% of CRA referrals were for services that schools are legally obligated to provide through the Individualized Education Program (IEP) or Section 504 Plan processes.
This bill puts Massachusetts alongside New York and Connecticut as leaders in best practices to significantly reduce the number of these types of petitions by first requiring that community-based resources through Family Resource Centers be exhausted before a case can be referred to court. It also follows Connecticut’s lead by removing schools’ authority to file CRA petitions for services that are within the school’s legal authority.