[Massachusetts-NFB] Please Submit Your Testimony Today about Our Right to Parent

[Justin Salisbury]

Fellow Federationists:

Today, there was a hearing in our state legislature in the Joint Committee on the Judiciary on a bill that will create a right to parent for people with disabilities in Massachusetts. The hearing went well, but we need more testimonies submitted to the Committee to show them that lots of us care about this initiative. We submitted a testimony as an affiliate, but individual testimonies also make a big difference. The attached template testimony is a guide that you may follow if you’d like. I have also attached a PDF copy of our affiliate testimony.  

As an affiliate, we requested an amendment. To explain the amendment simply, we are asking the committee to raise a standard of evidence that a court must prove to use a parent’s disability to take a child away from them. Currently, the bill uses the high standard of “clear and convincing evidence” for some situations and a lower standard of “a preponderance of the evidence” for other situations. We are asking that they use the higher standard for all situations. 

Please submit your individual testimony by e-mail to michael.musto at mahouse.gov.
Please copy (Cc) both of your legislators, sharawinton at gmail.com, and 808salisbury at gmail.com.
If you don’t know who represents you in our state legislature, you can find your state senator and state representative by visiting https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator. 

There is no clear deadline for these testimonies because we need to get these testimonies to the committee before they act. A good rule of thumb is no more than one week following the hearing. I would like to ask affiliate members to get their testimonies submitted no later than Sunday, November 19, 2023. Please do it on the same day that you read this email if you can. 

Thank you for your participation in our movement. We need lots of voices, including yours. Please let us know if you have questions. 

Sincerely,

Justin Salisbury


Justin MH Salisbury, MEd, NOMC, NCRTB
English Pronouns: he/him/his
Phone: 808.797.8606
Email: President at Alumni.ECU.edu
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