On May 21, I received the 2025 Senate Champion for Children Award from the Children’s League of Massachusetts.
It was a heartfelt honor and meant a great deal to me. I was in the company of tremendous colleagues, like Rep. Jay Livingstone and the Child Advocate who were also recognized.
Read on for the remarks I shared at the event.
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I am honored to receive this award from the Children’s League.
This recognition means a great deal to me personally, and in celebration of the work of our team.
I’m also delighted to be in the company of tremendous colleagues. Congratulations Chair Livingstone and Madam Advocate.
Let me start by acknowledging the incredible work the Children’s League does every single day.
You are tireless advocates. Your work spans many of the Commonwealth’s most pressing issues.
You know most of all — that there is much to do to strengthen protections for children in foster care and to support them when they age out of foster care.
That’s why, in partnership with the Children’s League, Representative Sean Garballey and I have filed legislation to expand access to higher education tuition and fee waivers for children who have been in foster care.
Too many students who are eligible for higher education tuition and fee waivers find out too late that those waivers don’t apply to the class or course of study they hope to pursue.
The Department of Higher Education has been tremendously supportive in our common search for a solution and we hope we can pass this bill this session, thanks to your advocacy.
Additionally, with your support, legislation I filed — An Act protecting benefits owed to foster children — just passed the Senate by amendment yesterday.
This bill codifies the end of a Department of Children and Families practice, whereby the state had confiscated social security and other federal benefits entitled for some of the state’s most vulnerable children and young adults — instead diverting those funds into the Commonwealth’s general fund.
As a result, close to $5.5 million in benefits meant for around 600 vulnerable youth were siphoned away each year for the state’s own use, rather than being available for children’s future use.
The practice disproportionately affected children of color and LGBTQ+ youth, who are overrepresented in the foster care system.
Former foster children have reported missing out on almost $50,000 in benefits. The difference this reform will make in the lives of children could be life changing.
Thanks to a stellar partnership between the legislators, the Chairs of Children and Families — thank you Chair Livingstone and Chair Robyn Kennedy, advocates, and DCF, the state stopped this practice in 2024 and has worked to transition benefits into personal accounts for young people to use when they exit foster care. It has also committed to providing financial literacy education to all youth in care beginning at age 14.
But we had to codify these DCF directives in state law to protect vulnerable children from the unpredictability of future administrations and budgets.
And there’s still so much more we must do.
We must redouble our lines of defense in the Commonwealth, endeavoring to shield our people — especially our children — from the worst consequences of current national actions.
So this morning, I accept this award not as a conclusion, but as an urgent call to keep going.
Together, we will continue to fight for a Commonwealth where the rights of children are central and where justice is not just a promise, but a practice.
Thank you again for this incredible honor. I am proud to be in this fight with you.
