The Family Justice Clinic (FJC) continues to obtain critical victories in “fair hearing” cases, which involve the government’s efforts to split up children from their caregivers. In this instance, the client was a mother with two children, one of whom was a teenager with significant mental health needs. The teen was going through a difficult time, and the Massachusetts Department of Children & Families (DCF) did not agree with the way the mother chose to support her child through difficult circumstances, according to Rebecca Greening, who, with Marianna Yang, is one of the Family Justice Clinic’s two clinical instructors. FJC represented the mother during DCF’s investigation phase, which resulted in DCF making an allegation of neglect. Despite this setback, legal advocacy by FJC during the investigation laid the foundation for an appeal. Supported neglect findings can have a number of very serious consequences, including that in this case, the woman—who had worked in the field of children’s behavioral health—could be excluded from ever working in that field again. On her behalf, FJC filed for a “fair hearing” appeal before a DCF administrative hearing officer. Fair hearing cases are a major aspect of the clinic’s cutting-edge work in the emerging field of early family defense.
Last fall, two students new to clinical work and LSC, Tia Patrick ’26 and Caroline Arnold ’26, were assigned the case. The hearing was set for October 1—which meant they had one month to prepare. “They had to do a huge amount of preparation,” says Greening, their supervising attorney, including gathering and preparing documentary evidence, drafting a memorandum of law, preparing the client for testimony, and more. Patrick and Arnold handled all aspects of the hearing including conducting a cross-examination of the DCF investigator and a direct examination of their own client, and presenting closing arguments. In early February, the hearing officer ruled in their client’s favor, recommending reversal of the neglect finding. “We were able to prove that simply because DCF wasn’t in agreement with how this mother chose to meet her child’s mental health needs, that did not amount to neglect,” Greening says. As a result of the student’s efforts and the FJC victory, the client is able to pursue new job prospects while her child continues to improve in their mother’s care, Greening adds.