News  OCA releases report: “Family Resource Centers: Recommendations for Increasing Access and Improving Service Delivery”

The Office of the Child Advocate is pleased to release its latest report: “Family Resource Centers: Recommendations for Increasing Access and Improving Service Delivery.”

Pursuant to Chapter 28 of the Acts of 2023, the Commonwealth’s budget, the Office of the Child Advocate was required to conduct a review of Family Resource Centers (FRCs).

Massachusetts FRCs, overseen by the Department of Children and Families, are community-based centers that provide a wide array of family support services.  In FY24, there were 32 FRCs across the state, funded through a $33.8 million appropriation in the state budget.

This report makes recommendations to help focus FRCs, expand access, integrate FRCs more fully with other state systems, and expand the FRCs. 

The OCA’s findings and recommendations in this report are based on information gathered from interviews and focus groups with a wide variety of executive branch, legislative, and judicial stakeholders, community and advocacy organizations, FRC staff, and FRC consumers as well as analysis of a large amount of data on FRC operations and data on children involved in other state systems, including the child protective services (DCF) and Child Requiring Assistance systems.

Read the report to learn more about our findings and read our recommendations!