MHLAC’s Family Law Project (FLP) provides legal representation and assistance to low income parents diagnosed with a mental illness or psychiatric disability who are seeking to access or regain custody of their children. The FLP is supported and funded by the Department of Mental Health (DMH) and the Massachusetts Bar Foundation (MBF).
FLP is committed to serving parents with a mental illness or psychiatric disability because they are at high risk of losing custody of and/or all contact with their children in the family courts, particularly if they are without legal representation.
How We Help
The FLP staff provide effective legal representation and assistance in the following ways:
Legal Consultation for Parents
The FLP staff attorney provides parents with legal information, advice, brief service, advocacy and referrals in both family law and child welfare matters. We prioritize assistance for parents when their mental health diagnoses (or perceived mental health history) is being used against them in their case. Staff also provides consultation to parents with mental health or psychiatric disabilities who are involved with Department of Children and Families (DCF) when they are not already represented by an attorney. Where a parent’s mental health is at issue, the FLP attorney is also available to provide technical assistance to other attorneys representing parents with mental health issues and service coordination for parents.
Technical Assistance
The FLP staff provide attorneys, providers, advocates, case workers, and others with technical assistance and advice in child welfare matters involving DCF, when the parent or child client has a mental health, psychiatric or intellectual disability.
Legal Representation
The FLP staff attorney represents parents in Probate & Family court cases involving divorce, post-divorce, or unmarried parents when custody and/or parenting time is at issue due to allegations regarding the parent’s mental health. The cases can also include elements of abuse prevention orders, child support, spousal support, limited property division, or DCF involvement. The FLP provides both Limited Appearance Representation (LAR) and full representation in these kinds of cases.
Training and Education
The FLP leads an effort to pass parenting anti-discrimination legislation to protect parents with disabilities from discrimination in child custody decisions. Parents with disabilities, especially psychiatric and intellectual disabilities, inappropriately lose custody or parenting time at alarming rates due to disability discrimination. This legislation would require Courts to determine if a parent’s disability causes actual harm to a child based on evidence, not assumptions, and to assess whether there are supportive services that could be put in place to alleviate any perceived harm.