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Advocates, former judge push for Harmony Commission to review child welfare system failures
Summary
House Bill H.218 and Senate Bill S.164 would create the Harmony Commission to study the state child‑welfare system and recommend reforms, and witnesses asked the Joint Committee to include people with lived experience on the panel.
House Bill H.218 and Senate Bill S.164 would create the Harmony Commission to study and recommend reforms to the child‑welfare system, with a stated emphasis on centering people with lived experience. Multiple witnesses — including Charles Lerner of Massachusetts CASA, representatives of the Massachusetts Child Welfare Coalition, and former First Justice Carol Erskine — urged the committee to report the bill favorably and to ensure that the commission’s membership includes birth parents and other impacted people.
Why it matters: Witnesses framed the commission as a way to examine systemic failures,…
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