Visitation

The Department will plan and promote regular and frequent visitation between children in substitute care and their parents, and/or siblings consistent with the terms of the service plan. For children who are the subject of a Voluntary Placement Agreement, parents may use the Department's grievance procedure (110 CMR 10.37 through 10.39) to address complaints concerning visitation matters. For all children in the court-ordered custody of the Department, if the Department seeks to terminate visitation between the child and the parents, it will not do so unless the matter is brought before a judge, and the judge makes specific findings demonstrating that parental visits will harm the child or the public welfare, unless a parent(s)’s right to notice of and consent to a child’s adoption has been voluntarily or involuntarily dispensed with, whether or not the judgment dispensing with that right is on appeal. See, Custody of a Minor (No. 2), 392 Mass. 719, 725-726 (1984). For all children in the custody of the Department, where a parent(s)’s right to notice of and consent to a child’s adoption has been voluntarily or involuntarily dispensed with, or where the judgment to dispense with a parent’s right to consent to the child’s adoption is on appeal, the Department may continue parental visitation if, in the judgment of the Department, it is in the best interest of the child(ren). See, Adoption of Gwendolyn, 29 Mass. App. Ct. 130, 134 n.3 (1990).