Inadequate Interpretation Services At Mass. DCF Lead To Risk Of Wrongful Family Separation, Complaint Alleges
Department of Children and Families
A group of non-profit and legal advocacy organizations have filed a federal complaint against the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, claiming that agency s failure to provide adequate interpretation services for non-English speakers leads to risk of wrongful family separation and violates civil rights law.
The case was brought by Lawyers for Civil Rights and the Massachusetts Appleseed Center for Law and Justice on behalf of the non-profit Haitian-Americans United, the Greater Boston Latino Network and an unnamed Latinx mother from Methuen who claims her limited English proficiency led to the agency substantiating a child neglect claim against her.
Crismely Tinidad, left, the Housing Service Coordinator at the Bronx River Community Center, translates for a resident who only speaks Spanish as he registers with a Somos Community Care screener at a pop-up COVID-19 vaccination site at the Bronx River Addition NYCHA complex, Sunday, Jan. 31, 2021. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
“Hola, ¿ha sido vacunado?”
This simple question Hello, have you been vaccinated?” repeated by volunteers from Lawyers for Civil Rights, stationed outside the Veronica Robles Cultural Center, proved to be the key to vaccinating approximately 50 individuals in East Boston on April 26, 2021. Through a partnership between the Greater Boston Latino Network, the Veronica Robles Cultural Center, the City of Boston, and the Consulates of Mexico, Colombia, and Honduras, this clinic provided a total of 150 vaccinations a third of which were administered to walk-ins within a predominantly Spanish-speaking community.
Federal Judge William Young late last week issued his decision on the challenge to this year’s altered Exam School Admission process, saying that the temporary admissions system did not discriminate by race against white and Asian students, but it should be a system in place only one year to accommodate COVID-19.
In a 48-page opinion, Judge Young stressed that the plan was well-thought out and accomplished the goals of making the school more geographically and economically diverse, and though race was spoke of, it wasn’t a plan that sought to racially balance the Exam Schools – which would be unconstitutional.
Boston parent group to appeal after federal judge rules that admission plan for exam schools is ‘race neutral’
Updated 12:35 PM;
A group of Boston parents who challenged a new admissions plan for Boston’s exam schools during the COVID-19 pandemic says it will appeal after a federal court judge ruled that the plan was not discriminatory.
The Boston Parent Coalition for Academic Excellence (BPCAE) filed a lawsuit in February against the School Committee and Boston Public Schools Superintendent Brenda Cassellius, arguing that a new zip code policy for admission to the city’s three exam schools is discriminatory against white and Asian students.
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