MAFF’s Mission:
- Offer opportunities to come together and provide mutual support to each other.
- Educate the general public about the contributions that foster, kinship, adoptive, and guardianship caregivers can make in the lives of children and about issues affecting the quality of care.
- Advocate for appropriate public policies and needed resources.
- Communicate regularly with the membership about issues of interest to them.
- Provide professional development opportunities and other benefits and services requested by the membership.
- Work in partnership with the Department of Children and Families (DCF) and MSPCC’s Kid’s Net Program to improve the system of care for the children in DCF custody.
The Board meets regularly to identify issues that concern foster, kinship, adoptive, and guardianship (FKAG) families and determine advocacy goals with regards to the legislature, DCF, or other systems that impact children in out of home placements. MAFF also hosts an annual conference for FKAG caregivers and DCF staff.
Membership in MAFF is free and open to all foster, kinship, adoptive, and guardianship parents. For more information or to get involved, please contact the MAFF Executive Board at maff@mspcc.org.
Advocacy Efforts
MAFF leads statewide advocacy efforts to promote the well-being of children in out-of-home placements and the foster, kinship, adoptive, and guardianship families who care for them. Our focus is to promote placement stability for foster children and recruitment and retention of quality foster caregivers.
Current Legislative Session
FY26 Budget Priorities
MAFF is active in advocating for increased funds from the Massachusetts state budget to support much needed programming and resources for children in out of home placements.
Below is the list of priorities MAFF is supporting in the FY26 state budget:
- Closing the gap between the daily rate of support for children in foster care and actual expenses.
- Improving access to behavioral health supports for children in foster care.
- Establishing sibling relationships
- Fully funding the law providing for tuition and fees waivers for foster and adopted children who attend state colleges and universities.
- Increasing foster parent recruitment and retention
Bills
MAFF is in the process of determining their legislative priorities for this upcoming session, and will prioritize legislation that will directly impact DCF-involved children and the foster, kinship, adoptive and guardianship families who care for them.
Your voice is critical to the success of our advocacy initiatives. Please join us in standing up for foster children by signing up to receive alerts on important legislation and budget priorities.
Sign up here
Resources for Foster Parents
Foster Parents’ Bill of Rights
The Foster Parents’ Bill of Rights creates guidelines for establishing a clear understanding between the Department of Children and Families and Massachusetts foster parents. The newly established law outlines basic rights afforded to foster parents, rights regarding the provision of foster care, and rights regarding communication and information sharing between foster parents and the Department of Children and Families (DCF).
To learn more about the law, please visit here.
The full text of the law can be found here.
Want to get involved but unsure who your legislators are? Find your legislators here.
Want to gain a better understanding of the Massachusetts Legislative and Budget process and become a more effective advocate? We have resources for you. Follow the links below to learn more..
Contact MAFF
For more information about MAFF, please contact us at maff@mspcc.org