Welcome to the Children's Issues Index.

Legal issues affecting children arise in every type of legal case, including housing, education, public benefits and health. The Children's Law Support Project developed this index to help advocates who may not specialize in children's law issues learn more about the other issues affecting the children in their cases so that they can provide families with appropriate information and direction. For example, an advocate working on a housing issue -- with the right information -- can provide information to help a parent navigate the process to request special education services.

This index is a work in progress -- if you have additional questions or issue areas you would like to see addressed, please let us know by completing the feedback form, linked to this page above.

Click on the bulleted topics below to read our Questions and Answers or to download fact sheets.

Child Care

• How does the child care system in Massachusetts work? What are the rules for getting child care?

Child Support

• How does a custodial parent get child support? What if the parents were never married? What does the Department of Revenue do? Are there any risks to pursuing child support? For answers to these and more questions, see the MassLegalHelp website, child support section

Child Welfare/DCF

• What is a 51A? What is a C&P (Care & Protection)? When is a child removed from a home on an emergency basis? See the Care and Protection fact sheet.

Children being raised by Grandparents

• There are thousands of children in Massachusetts being raised by their grandparents. Many grandparents will have questions about legal rights, benefits, and available resources to enable them to care for these children. The Massachusetts Executive office of Elder Affairs has prepared a number of resources that be can downloaded, including:
  • A Resource Guide for Massachusetts' Grandparents Raising their Grandchildren (PDF)
  • Additional Resources: A Companion to the Grandparents Resource Guide (PDF)
  • Grandparents You Are Not Alone! (PDF)

CRA (formerly CHINS) issues

• Child Requring Assistance (CRA) cases - Quick Reference on CRA Guide for Child Advocates in Massachusetts (by the Children's Law Center) Se also http://www.childrensleague.org/advocacy/chins-reform-law/

CORI

• How to Get a Copy of your Massachusetts Juvenile Record
• How to Seal Your Juvenile Records

Data

• How many children are living in poverty in your town? What are the characteristics of their families? How many are living below 50% of the poverty line? How does Massachusetts compare to other states? Through the KIDS Count project, the Annie E. Casey profiles the well-being of children by state and is searchable by a number of different measures, including by town, immigration status, and family composition. For the Data Center, which includes a page just for Massachusetts, see: http://datacenter.kidscount.org/
• Massachusett Elementary and Secondary Education Data
• Civil Rights Data Collection includes data on school discipline, restraints and seclusion, college and career readiness and more. http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/crdc-2012-data-summary.pdf

Education

• Special Education Questions and Answers -- an overview
• Rights of Homeless Students under the McKinney-Vento Act
  • Each year, the state identifies more than 12,000 students who are homeless, but thousands more are not identified. Identifying these students and enforcing their rights to education is critical to providing stability and maximizing their chances for educational success.
• Domestic Violence
  • Children who have been exposed to domestic violence sometimes experience serious problems at school as a result. Abusive parents sometimes try to interfere with their children's safety at school, their education, and with the ability of custodial parents to support their children's education. For resources on the connection between domestic violence and schools, including when domestic violence affects a studen't learning, restraining orders and school records, see: http://www.masslegalhelp.org/domestic-violence/domestic-violence-and-schools
• When can a student be suspended or expelled? What rights do students have? For answers to these and more questions, see the Children's Law Center of Massachusetts website, school suspension and expulsion section
• School Discipline Questions and Answers -- an overview
• Anti-Bullying Laws

HeadStart

• Questions and Answers about Head Start -- What is HeadStart? Who is eligible? How can a child enroll?

Health

• Early Intervention
  • Questions and Answers about Early Intervention. What is Early Intervention and when it is appropriate? How can a child receive Early Intervention Services?
• MassHealth
  • Questions and answers about MassHealth
  • How to get free transportation to medical appointments through MassHealth
• Mental Health
  • Accessing home based services via Rosie D
  • A how to guide for parents on considering and accessing mental health services for their children, developed by the Boston Bar Association and Children's Hospital Boston. What kinds of services are available? How can you get them and pay for them? What are some common obstacles and how do you overcome them? To download the guide, see: http://www.bostonbar.org/docs/default-document-library/bbaguide_2011update_2.pdf
  • Department of Mental Health (DMH) services for children and adolescents -- an overview of eligibility criteria, application procedure and services provided.

Homelessness

• Shelter and homelessness prevention: The main programs serving children whose families are homeless are Emergency Assistance and HomeBASE both of which are run by the Mass. Department of Housing and Community Development.To learn more about how these programs work, see the Emergency Assistance Advocacy Guide. http://www.masslegalservices.org/content/2013-emergency-assistance-advocacy-guide-0
• DCF oversees domestic violence shelters which are generally limited to people at immediate safety risk due to domestic violence. A family can see if they can access domestic violence shelter by calling SafeLink at 1-877-785-2020.
• Rights of Homeless Students under the McKinney-Vento Act
  • Each year, the state identifies more than 12,000 students who are homeless, but thousands more are not identified. Identifying these students and enforcing their rights to education is critical to providing stability and maximizing their chances for educational success.

Housing- In development. Please check back.

• What can be done when the conditions of a housing unit are problematic?

Immigration Rights for Youth- In development. Please check back.

• What options does an immigrant child or youth have to acquire status?
• Passports for Children: For U.S. State Department rules for passport applications for minors and what documentation and paperwork is necessary, see http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/minors/minors_834.html.

SNAP (Food Stamps) and School Meals

• If you pay for child care, your family may be eligible for a higher amount of SNAP/ Food Stamps each month. Learn more at SNAP and the Dependent Care (Child Care) Deduction
• Foster Children Are Entitled to Free Meals in Schools and Day Care; How to Access This Benefit
• Foster Care Families and SNAP Food Stamps
• Summer Meals Program: Free meals are provided in the community, often in conjunction with free recreational and educational activities. For more information, including a link that enables you to search for a site near a particular address, see: http://meals4kids.org/sfsp.
• For information about school meals, see: http://meals4kids.org/national-school-breakfast-program and http://meals4kids.org/schoolmealapplications
• Schools send applications for school meals home at the beginning of the school year, but families may apply anytime. For a link to the application, including applications in 33 languages, see: http://www.fns.usda.gov/school-meals/family-friendly-application-translations
• Many categories of children are eligible without having to file an application (such as foster children, children who are homeless, and children who are migrants) while others (those receiving TAFDC or SNAP benefits) need only give minimal information. See fact sheet on school meals.

SSI for children

• What are the rules for chidren qualifying for SSI? For a guide for parents and advocates on SSI for children, see Help for Children with Disabilities at http://www.dlc-ma.org/Resources/benefits.htm.
• Childhood Disability Questionnaires enable providers to give information about how a child functions at home, at school, and in the community that helps a judge better evaluate the nature and severity of a child's imapriments
• When a child is awarded retroactive SSI, there are special rules for how that money may be spent.
• What is an overpayment and what can be done about it?

TAFDC

• What is the TAFDC Family Cap Rule? Note: DTA forms to request an exception or waiver of the family cap rule are available in the Benefits Library of Masslegalservices.org.
• What is the TAFDC Caretaker Exemption Rule?

This item was originally posted at http://www.masslegalservices.org/content/childrens-issues-index