How Does the MA DCF Adoption Process Work?

A child is put up for adoption as a result of their MA DCF case when the Department decides that it is in the child’s best interest. This step often follows a comprehensive DCF investigation process, where the primary concern is the welfare of the child. When MA DCF puts a child up for adoption, it means they created an “adoption plan” for the child. Adoption is only an option after the Care and Protection trial, and when the parental rights have been terminated. When the child is 12 years old or older, they must give MA DCF permission to put them up for adoption. There are two (2) types of adoption plans that MA DCF can make:

1. Adoption by a foster or pre adoptive family MA DCF identified at the Care and Protection trial
2. Adoption by a family MA DCF will recruit to adopt the child (also called the “recruitment” plan)

When Does DCF Decide to Place a Child in Foster Care?

When MA DCF decides to place a child with a foster or pre adoptive family they have identified at trial, the Department will introduce evidence. This evidence will be in support of showing that the identified pre adoptive or foster parents are appropriate and able to care for the child. Usually, the child has been with the foster or pre adoptive family for a significant period of time. Also, the foster or pre adoptive parents generally want to adopt the child before the trial. When MA DCF decides to put a child up for adoption without having a family in mind (through the “recruitment” adoption plan), the Department must prove to a judge that this plan is acceptable and appropriate. MA DCF must include in their adoption plan how exactly they will recruit a family who can meet the child’s unique, distinctive needs. There could be an open adoption or a closed adoption. Regardless, the biological parents do not get the identification information for the child’s adoptive parents. It is up to the adoptive parents whether or not the child is allowed to visit and contact their biological parents.

What is an Open Adoption?

When an adoption is “open,” it means parents and children can visit and contact each other sometimes after the child is adopted. The parents and children can send each other pictures and letters. An adoption will be open when all parties come to an agreement to keep the adoption open. That includes the parents, children, adoptive parents, and MA DCF. A court order can also make the adoption an open one.

What is a closed adoption?

When an adoption is “closed,” it means that the parents and children are not allowed to visit or contact each other after adoption.

What is the Adoption Unit?

The “Adoption Unit” is a unit which is part of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (MA DCF). This unit is in charge of cases regarding children who are put up for adoption after being in MA DCF’s custody. The Adoption Unit manages the case once the permanency goal of the child is changed from reunification to adoption. Within ten (10) days of the child being put up for adoption, MA DCF must assign an adoption social worker to every child who is put up for adoption. MA DCF must also open an adoption file for every child who is put up for adoption. The adoption social worker is responsible for finding a new home for the child. The adoption social worker is also responsible for conducting an adoption assessment of the child. When the adoption social worker cannot do this, they will refer the child to another agency for an adoption assessment. The adoption social worker will develop an action plan with tasks the parties involved with the child’s adoption must engage in. These tasks will consider the child’s unique needs. They must be done for the purpose of achieving the goal of adoption. The adoption social worker will provide the child with their services until the child is adopted, or until the permanency goal for the child is changed. For example, when the goal is changed from adoption to something else, such as reunification, the adoption social worker will stop providing the child with their services.

What is Visitation?

Visitation in MA DCF cases is a plan containing conditions for visits between parents or families and a child who was removed from their home. The visitation plan is made by MA DCF. It contains a schedule of when the visits happen, where they happen, and how long they happen. The visitation plan is also supposed to include all other forms of contact the child and parent or family member may have. These forms of contact include phone calls and mailing letters or pictures. The nature of the visitation has great impacts on the relationship between parents and children. It is in the child’s best interests to remain in contact with their parents; children have the opportunity to create more meaningful connections with their family, and the family has better chances of reuniting with the child. Visitation also helps decrease the trauma that the child experiences due to being removed. Newborns and young children should have shorter, but more frequent visits. 

What is the importance of Visitation?

The following are the main reasons why visitation is so important in MA DCF cases:

Improving a Child’s Well-Being:

Frequent, consistent visitation indicates to the child that they were not abandoned, and that their family still cares about them. Visitation also helps lessen children’s negative feelings resulting from separation.

Bettering Parenting Skills:

Visitation allows parents to have the opportunity to take what they’ve learned in the services MA DCF connected them to and apply it to parenting. Those services include parenting classes and therapy. Parents can use visitation to prove that they have learned from their mistakes, and that they have changed.

Dealing with Changing Relationships:

Reunification is not possible, Visitation can help parents communicate to their child why the child can’t come back home. Visitation also lets parents and children say goodbye to each other.

Preserving Family Bonds:

Visitation, when it is frequent and consistent, helps maintain family bonds which split when the child is removed from their home. Visitation encourages emotional attachments between children and their families.

Promoting Reunification as a Goal:

Visitation is an opportunity for parents to show MA DCF that their family interactions are in the child’s best interests. When the Department observes the parents to be safe and appropriate, they may allow the child to go back to live with their family.

Helping in the Transition to Reunification:

Frequent visitation helps the child adjust when they are back in the home.

Comforting for Parents:

Visitation comforts parents because it gives them the chance to be involved with their children’s lives. Visitation is also comforting because they indicate to a parent that they still matter to their child.

Providing Families with more Realistic Expectations:

Visits help children have realistic expectations, and parents to have more realistic expectations about their children. They also help children turn negative perspectives of the parents into positive ones.

When do Parents Have a Right to Visitation with their Child?

A parent has the right to visitation at any point where the child is removed from the home. This includes any point in a care and protection case. Parents are not allowed visitation with their children when their parental rights have been terminated. Parents will have a right to visitation when:

• There is no finding, by clear and convincing evidence, that visits between the parent and child would be harmful to the child
• There is no finding, by clear and convincing evidence, that visits between the parent and child would be harmful to the public interest

Siblings always have the right to visit each other when they are placed in different permanent placements. This includes when the siblings are separated due to adoption, or being put in different foster homes. Grandparents also always have the right to visit the child when the Department has custody of the child.

When Should Parents Request for Visitation?

Parents, with help from their attorney, should request for visitation as early as they can. Parents should request visitation after the child is removed from the home, during the seventy-two-hour hearing (72-Hour Hearing). This hearing is held to decide who will get temporary custody of the child. It is crucial that when parents want proper visitation with their child, they must fight for it. This includes when parents do not currently have visitation. This also includes when parents do not have enough time to bond with their child during visitation, or when their visitation is not frequent enough.

The requests that parents can make to change their visitation plan include

• Longer visits
• More frequent visits
• The visits happen on a different day or time (due to responsibilities or work)
• Visits happen at a more convenient location
• The visits happen overnight in the parent’s home
• The visits happen unsupervised

What is MA DCF’s role regarding Visitation?

MA DCF is required by their own policies to promote and plan consistent visitation between children and their parents or siblings. The Department is also required to create a family visitation schedule dictated by the child’s needs and the goal of the service plan.  MA DCF’s policies also indicate that visitation between children and their families should happen at least once a week, or once every other week. MA DCF is not allowed to schedule visitations for less than once a month. A MA DCF supervisor must approve all cases where the Department does schedule visitation between children and families for less than once a month. When parents are separated or divorced, MA DCF should offer visitation to both parents. Each parent should have visitation with their child at least once a month. When parents are incarcerated, they still have the right to visitation with their children. The only exceptions for MA DCF allowing visitation to parents are when:

• There is a court order stating that visitation should be less frequent
• The visitation is harmful to the child’s health or safety

Is MA DCF’s Visitation Plan Good?

When MA DCF creates a visitation plan, the schedule tends to be according to the minimum standard. The minimum is visitation that occurs twice a month. MA DCF’s visitation plan tends not to be proper, appropriate and helpful, especially when “reunification” is the family’s goal. One reason for the ineffectiveness of MA DCF’s visitation plan is that social workers are unable to help the parents or children regarding transportation to visits. Also, MA DCF does not let third parties, including extended family, to help the parents or children regarding transportation to visits. The Department’s policy establishing the “minimum standard” of at least bimonthly or monthly visitation often becomes the default visitation schedule. Sometimes, MA DCF does not create a visitation schedule at all. In those cases, the Department expects the parent to call them the day before the visit to confirm the place and time for the visit. Parents do not know this, nor are they informed of this, ahead of time and so they end up not calling. Then, MA DCF makes claims that the parent is unfit to parent because they missed visitation. Parents should therefore ask their attorney to negotiate a fair visitation schedule with MA DCF.

How does Visitation Lead to a Termination of Parental Rights?

MA DCF can and does use visitations that have gone wrong as evidence in support of terminating a parent’s parental rights.  The following are examples of visitation gone wrong which MA DCF can use as evidence against parents:

1. The child and parent do not interact or communicate well OR the child cries during the whole visit: A child could have trouble interacting or communicating with their parent because the location for the visitation is uncomfortable for them. This may be due to the fact that MA DCF schedules for the visit to happen in a room that is not age appropriate for the child. There are no toys or objects that can encourage interactions between the child and their parent. 
2. The parent does not show up or cancels visitation (and they do this often): This can happen because the parent’s job schedule may get in the way of their visitation schedule. It could also be because the parent did not have access to, or could not afford transportation. Or, the issue could be with MA DCF. Where the Department did not provide the parents with a consistent visitation schedule.
3. The parent is not allowed to attend visitation until they successfully complete a required program: Some parents are required by MA DCF to go through a program before they are allowed to visit their child. These programs include a batterer’s intervention program, or a substance abuse treatment program. When parents do not complete the program, or have not learned enough, they will not be able to visit their child. MA DCF may use this against the parent by stating they are not fit to care for their child, so they should not have parental rights.

Can Parents Maintain Contact with the Children through other means besides visitation?

Depending on the parent’s rights and responsibilities over their child, parents can have additional contact with the child. This includes exchanging letters with their child, or speaking to their child over the phone. Parents may have additional contact when they are allowed to attend the child’s activities. This can include school plays, sports games, doctor’s appointments, and parent-teacher conferences.

Can MA DCF Terminate Visitation?

Yes, MA DCF can terminate visitation. However, MA DCF can only do this when they get permission from a judge. The judge can only give permission through a court order. The Department must prove to the judge that visitation between the family and child is harmful. The judge who gives MA DCF approval must then agree that visitation will either harm the child, or harm the public’s welfare.

What about Grandparents Visitation?

A child in DCF custody retains the right to visit with a grandparent. Only if the visitation is not contrary to the child’s best interest. This right, as is the right of sibling visitation, is within the court’s authority to order and not subject to court review of agency action under the abuse of discretion standard. The mere relationship of a grandparent to a parent suspected of abuse or neglect is not in itself grounds to require restrictive or supervised visits. Counsel should argue that the child be allowed to have unsupervised or overnight visits with the grandparent. However only if there are no safety concerns.

What about Visitation with Other Adults?

The child has the right to visitation with other adults when the child has a close relationship with these adults. These adults can include the child’s aunt or uncle, a former foster parent, or the child’s parent’s significant other who lives with the child’s parent. MA DCF has legal permission by law to control visitation. However, in cases where there might be concerns such as DCF parental alienation, a judge can order visits between a child and an adult who is not the parent.

 Kevin Seaver is a trusted MA DCF Attorney Specializing in DCF Law since 1991. 

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.