Senate Approves Bill Asking DCF To Keep Siblings Together

BOSTON (AP) — The Massachusetts Senate has advanced legislation that calls for keeping siblings together after they are placed in the custody of the state's child welfare agency.

The bill approved on a voice vote Thursday requires the Department of Children and Families to make every effort to keep brothers and sisters together after they're removed from their biological parents and placed in foster care or adoptive homes.

Sen. Karen Spilka, an Ashland Democrat, said the proposed law would strengthen the existing DCF policy to keep siblings together. It would require the agency to explain and a judge to approve decisions to separate siblings.

The bill would also allow in some children in DCF care to seek reinstatement of their biological parents' rights.

The measure now moves to the House.

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