State Agencies

CLM works and coordinates with many state agencies that affect the lives of children and families. We participate in formal and informal working groups, task forces, commissions, and other groups convened by these agencies, and serve as a liaison between CLM members and agency leaders.

May 11, 2023

MA Commission on LGBTQ Youth Releases FY24 Report and Recommendations

May 10, 2023 Background: In April, the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth released their annual report and recommendations. Over the past year, nearly 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced across the United States, many of which have already passed. These bills aim to strip away the autono...

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State Agencies List

Executive Office of Health and Human Services

The Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) is the largest secretariat in state government and covers many areas of support. HHS provides access to medical and behavioral health care, substance misuse treatment, long term services and support, and nutritional and financial benefits to those with low incomes. HHS steers troubled youth towards a more successful path and does everything possible to keep children in our child welfare system safe.

Office of the Child Advocate

The Office of the Child Advocate works to ensure Massachusetts state agencies provide children with quality services and that children receiving services are protected from harm.

Department of Children and Families

The Department of Children and Families (DCF) works in partnership with families and communities to keep children safe from abuse and neglect. If you wish to report abuse of a child, contact DCF as directed on their site.

Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth

The Commission is an independent state agency that helps all youth thrive. The Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ youth advises others in state government on effective policies, programs, and resources for LGBTQ youth. Our 50-member Commission and its staff issue annual recommendations, work in partnership with 18 state entities, and hold community events and listening sessions.

Family Resources Center

The Family Resource Centers (FRCs) of Massachusetts is a statewide network providing community-based, multicultural parenting programs, support groups, early childhood services, information and referral resources and education for families whose children range in age from birth to 18. Supported through funding from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services in collaboration with the Department of Children and Families, a Family Resource Center is located in each of the 14 Massachusetts counties.

The goal of each FRC is to provide information and assistance to families needing access to health, safety, employment training, education and peer support. Through the work of the FRCs families can focus on strengthening their bonds, connecting to others, and engaging in their communities. The core values of the FRCs include: respect, trust, safety, wellness, and caring.

MARE – Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange

MARE serves children and teens in the Massachusetts foster care system who are not able to be reunited with their birth families and need permanent adoptive homes. They provide vital services to these children by working with the Commonwealth’s Department of Children & Families (DCF) and its contracted agencies to register each child that cannot be reunited with his or her birth family and then recruiting families that meet an individual child’s very specific needs. MARE has two programming departments, Child Services and Family Support Services.

MARE has two programming departments, Child Services and Family Support Services. MARE’s model uses these complementary programs to cast as wide a net as possible to find potential adoptive families and then match them with a specific child whose needs they meet.

Kinship Navigator

Kinship Navigator is a program of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that assists all kinship caregivers (grandparents and other relatives) with accessing services for themselves and the children they are raising. Their mission is to assure all kinship caregivers in Massachusetts can easily find supportive serves online and with assistance from Kinship Navigator staff to help cultivate strong, stable and successful families throughout the Commonwealth.

Department of Mental Health

The Department of Mental Health, as the State Mental Health Authority, assures and provides access to services and supports to meet the mental health needs of individuals of all ages; enabling them to live, work and participate in their communities.

Massachusetts Community Behavioral Health Centers

Community Behavioral Health Centers (CBHCs) are one-stop shops for a wide range of mental health and substance use treatment programs. The statewide network includes 25 CBHCs in communities across Massachusetts. CBHCs offer immediate care for mental health and substance use needs, both in crisis situations and the day-to-day.

Crisis intervention services are available around the clock for anyone in Massachusetts who feels they may be experiencing a mental health crisis and are entirely insurance-blind, meaning anyone can access services, no insurance needed. Crisis stabilization and outpatient services are available for all MassHealth members and may also be covered by some commercial insurers.

Massachusetts Behavioral Health Help Line

The Massachusetts Behavioral Health Help Line (BHHL) is here to connect you directly to clinical help, when and where you need it. Even if you’re not sure what kind of help or treatment you may need, we can help guide you. It’s free, confidential, and no health insurance is required. Real-time interpretation in 200+ languages.

MA Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Abuse Services

BSAS oversees the statewide system of prevention, intervention, treatment, and recovery support services for individuals, families, and communities affected by substance addiction.

Department of Transitional Assistance

The Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) assists and empowers low-income individuals and families to meet their basic needs, improve their quality of life, and achieve long term economic self-sufficiency. DTA serves one in seven residents of the Commonwealth with direct economic assistance (cash benefits) and food assistance (SNAP benefits), as well as workforce training opportunities.

Department of Youth Services

As the Juvenile Justice agency for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Department of Youth Services (DYS) serves youth committed as juvenile delinquents or youthful offenders and detained youth awaiting judicial action. DYS programs address the unique educational, psychological and health needs of youth in their care and custody across a continuum of supervision and services.

Department of Early Education and Care

The Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) is the lead agency for all early education and care services in the Commonwealth. EEC licenses or approves group, school age, and family child care programs; family child care assistants; residential programs for children; and adoption/foster care placement agencies. EEC also oversees Background Record Checks that ensure the safety of children in child care programs.

Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) provides leadership, oversight, funding, support, and accountability for the Commonwealth's approximately 400 school districts that educate close to 1 million public school children each year. CLM’s focus is on children who are eligible for additional federal and state education supports due to their placement in foster care or congregate care, youth who are justice-involved, and youth who are experiencing homelessness.

Juvenile Court

The Juvenile Court Department oversees civil and criminal matters statewide involving children including youthful offender, care and protection, and delinquency cases. The Juvenile Court's mission is to protect children from abuse and neglect, to strengthen families, to rehabilitate juveniles, and to protect the public from delinquent and criminal behavior. A Child Requiring Assistance (CRA) case is one where parents, guardians, or school officials ask the court to help supervise a child.

Department of Public Health

The Department of Public Health (DPH) promotes the health and well-being of all residents by ensuring access to high-quality public health and healthcare services, focusing on prevention and wellness, and health equity for all. DPH is the hub for state information about COVID-19.

Federal Resource: Disaster Distress Helpline

The Disaster Distress Helpline (DDH) is the first national hotline dedicated to providing year-round disaster crisis counseling. This toll-free, multilingual, crisis support service is available 24/7 to all residents in the U.S. and its territories who are experiencing emotional distress related to natural or human-caused disasters.

Call or text 1-800-985-5990.

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