Department of Youth Services (DYS)

Our Mission

The Department of Youth Services fosters positive outcomes for youth, builds safer communities, and collaborates for an equitable and fair justice system.

Our Vision

We envision a Commonwealth in which every young person has the skills, support, and resources necessary to engage safely with their communities, and lead productive and fulfilling lives.

Our Values

• Fairness: We value fairness in our treatment of youth in our care, their families and community support, and our staff and partners. We support increased fairness across all aspects of our justice system through strong and transparent relationships with our partners and collaborators.
• Transparency: We believe that the processes by which we make our consequential decisions matter, and we are open and forthcoming about what information informs our decisions, and who is the final authority.
• Racial Equity: We believe that racial equity is the condition that would be achieved if our racial identities no longer predicted how we fare in life. Achieving this state requires absolute elimination of all policies, practices, attitudes and cultural messages that lead to differential outcomes by race. We strive to ensure that the impacts of our work reduce and mitigate racial and other disparities within DYS, within our communities, in our justice system, and beyond.
• Integrity: We value honesty, fair processes, and full accountability for our actions.