Lawmakers Pushed to Keep Siblings Together in Large Foster Families
Gabrielle Gurley for the State House News Service
       State lawmakers today declined to interfere in the case of an Abington family that wants to adopt a child but faces a law limiting the size of foster families, saying they hope to give the Department of Social Services commissioner broader discretion in such cases.
       The Worthen family is trying to adopt two girls who are sisters, ages 6 and 10, currently living in two different Attleboro foster homes. The move would push the Worthens over the state’s six-child limit for adoptive families, to seven.
       “It is a good idea to have the discretion on a case-by-case basis by the commissioner,” said Sen. Karen Spilka (D-Framingham), co-chair of the Joint Committee on Children and Families.
       The committee is considering legislation that would allow the DSS commissioner, or his designee, to sign off on more than six children in a foster home in cases where it exceeding the limit is necessary to place siblings together.
       Testifying before the committee, Maureen K Flatley, a lobbyist and adoption and foster care advocate working with the family, said the state needs to do all it can to help families adopt foster children. “Family size should not be one size fits all,” she said.
       According to Flatley, Massachusetts foster children spend too much time in foster care, placing the state in the bottom tier in the United States.