Breed Neutral Policy and Animal Cruelty Cross Reporting Bill (Massachusetts)
H.4911
Massachusetts legislation would create a dog-breed-neutral policy, and remove dog breed prohibitions, related to placing a child in a foster or adoptive home; it also clarifies that human services employees can report animal cruelty.
Status
The Animal Legal Defense Fund supports this bill.
Sponsors: Representative Jack Patrick Lewis (Democrat – 7th Middlesex), Senator Adam Gomez (Democrat – Hampden)
Introduction Date: February 16, 2023
Signed into law by Governor Maura Healey on October 9, 2024, An Act Relative to Animal Welfare and Reporting of Animal Cruelty, Abuse or Neglect (H.4911), updates laws relating to human service agencies and outdated animal policies. Specifically, this law ensures that the Department of Children and Families (DCF) has dog-breed-neutral policies relating to placing a child in an adoptive or foster home; it removes existing prohibitions for DCF adoptive and foster homes based solely on the presence of a dog of certain breeds. Additionally, H.4911 clarifies that human services employees and contractors can report animal cruelty whenever it is suspected, removing a perceived time limitation from existing statute.
Why is this legislation important?
Current DCF regulations prevent placement of children under 12 years old in certain homes based solely on the presence of a dog of a certain breed or mix of breeds. However, dog breed alone is not an indication of temperament or behavior and methods of identifying a dog’s breed are often unreliable. Massachusetts has already prohibited municipalities from discriminating based on breed and is closely studying insurance-related discrimination based on breed. This law ensures DCF looks holistically at a home for possible placement to facilitate safe and appropriate placement of children without unnecessarily disqualifying otherwise suitable adoptive and foster homes because of dog breed discrimination.
Additionally, this law updates the existing cross-reporting law. Language in the statute has been interpreted to restrict the timing in which suspected animal cruelty can be reported by employees and contractors of human services agencies to only the 10-day investigation period. This new law removes that language, clarifying that a report of animal cruelty may be made at any time animal cruelty is suspected.
For more information about animal protection legislation in Massachusetts and opportunities to take action for animals, visit aldf.org/ma.
