The Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate (OCA) released a new policy brief examining barriers to equitable access to state services for children and families who speak languages other than English.
More than a quarter of Massachusetts residents speak a language other than English at home, a rate that is growing faster than the national average. For children and families navigating child welfare, juvenile justice, behavioral health, and other state services, the ability to communicate effectively in the language they speak is essential to accessing and receiving quality care and support.
The OCA’s research, which focused specifically on state services delivered through contracted providers, found that children and families do not always have meaningful access to services in their language. In some cases, particularly when language-access resources are not readily available, the OCA found that children are asked to interpret for their parents or caregivers.
Alternatively, providers use unreliable translation/interpreting tools and/or rely on bilingual staff who are untrained in the appropriate area of expertise. This lack of expertise places children and their families in difficult and potentially harmful situations and compromises the accuracy and quality of information exchanged between families and providers.
“Language should not be an additional barrier to services that children and families need and deserve,” said OCA child advocate Marisol García. “Given the wide variety of state agency service providers and languages spoken in the Commonwealth, we need to work together to improve the accessibility of these services for individuals for whom English is not their first language.”
Office of the Child Advocate (9/22/26)