U. S. Department of Justice and U. S. Department of Health and Human Services Issue Joint Letter . . .

U. S. Department of Justice and U. S. Department of Health and Human Services Issue Joint Letter Finding Disability Rights Violations by Massachusetts Department of Children and Families

On January 29, 2015, the U. S. Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a joint letter finding disability rights violations by the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF). DOJ found DCF has violated Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and HHS found DCF has violated Title II and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 504), by denying a mother with developmental disabilities the opportunity to benefit from supports and services following the removal of her two-day-old infant and over the next two years as she was seeking to reunify with her daughter.

The joint Letter of Findings is signed by Acting Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta of the Civil Rights Division for the DOJ, and Director Jocelyn Samuels and Region I Regional Manager Susan M. Pezzullo Rhodes of the Office of Civil Rights of HHS. The joint Letter of Findings is available on ADA.gov.

For more general information on the Americans with Disabilities Act

visit ADA.gov, or call the toll-free ADA Information Line at

(800) 514-0301 (voice) or (800) 514-0383 (TTY).