Day of Action for CHINS Reform

Every year, 9,000 children in Massachusetts are introduced to the criminal justice system through CHINS or Children in Need of Services despite never having committed a crime. Parents, schools, the police and even neighbors can file a CHINS on a child when he or she is exhibiting troublesome behavior. The idea is that by filing CHINS, our children will supposedly gain access to help and services that can improve behavior, support the child and help he or she avoid future incidents with the criminal justice system. However, in most cases that is not how things have worked out. Our children are assigned a probation officer and introduced to the criminal justice system at a young age. They grow up to learn their label as "CHINS Kids" is hard to shake, discriminatory and can prevent them from accessing opportunities later in life.

To truly help our children, we all need to be provided services by trained clinical and support professionals in community-based settings, and involve the juvenile justice system only when absolutely necessary.

Our bill S.1963 to reform CHINS to the FACES (Families and Children Engaged in Services) system will help make this happen.

- Free buses leave Worcester City Hall promptly at 11:00am and will return to Worcester by 5:30 p.m. bag lunch will be provided.
- Rally at the State House at 1 p.m. followed by a visit to Speaker DeLeo's and Rep Dempsey's Office. We will not leave DeLeo's office until he meets with us!

Please RSVP here or call Delia Vega at 508-713-8420

If you can't join us, please contact Speaker DeLeo at 617-722-2500 and tell him to support CHINS Reform by talking to the Chair of House Ways & Means! You can also sign our petition to Speaker DeLeo here