Massachusetts

Facilities in Massachusetts

Residential facilities providing religious, behavioral, and mental health treatment to children exist in all 50 states. Some of these facilities are known to be part of the Troubled Teen Industry, while others have not yet been verified. Any facility where children live and receive care requires additional oversight. This directory helps communities monitor local programs and advocate for accountability.

Reporting abuse in Massachusetts

Massachusetts calls a child abuse report a 51A, after the section of law that creates it, and you will hear that shorthand from every agency in the state. The Department of Early Education and Care licenses the residential and congregate care programs themselves, which is not where most people would think to look, and the state also has an independent Office of the Child Advocate covering every child-serving agency.

Time limits in Massachusetts: a general guide

This was correct as far as we could tell when we checked it on 28 September 2026. Laws on time limits change often, sometimes every legislative session, so some of what follows may have been updated since. It is a starting point, not legal advice: please check with a lawyer before relying on any date here. A time limit on a lawsuit or a criminal charge is also not a time limit on telling someone, and most of the places listed below will still take a report.

Time limits for abuse of a child often run from the survivor's 18th birthday, or from when they came to understand what happened, rather than from the day the program closed. Many states have lengthened them, removed them for child sexual abuse, or reopened claims that had already expired. A criminal charge, a lawsuit and a licence complaint each have their own time limit, so one having passed does not necessarily mean the others have.

Lawsuits

Physical abuse or injury: Three years from when the claim arises, for assault, battery, false imprisonment and negligence alike (all are tort actions). Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 260, § 2A
If it happened before you turned 18: If the injured person was a minor, the three years start when they turn 18, so the deadline is normally the 21st birthday. There is no separate longer deadline for non-sexual physical abuse of a child. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 260, § 7
If the program was run by or for the government: Against a public employer, a written claim must be presented within two years (to the Attorney General for the state, or the mayor, city manager or similar official for a city or town), and suit must be filed within three years; public employers are not liable for intentional torts like assault and battery under this act. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 258, § 4
Child sexual abuse: The SOL for civil CSA, trafficking, and CSAM claims against any defendant is age 53, with revival up to age 53 against perpetrators only, and a revival 7-year discovery rule against all defendants. CHILD USA's summary

Criminal charges

Physical child abuse: Less certain Assault and battery on a child causing injury: six years from the crime. Wanton or reckless conduct that puts a child at substantial risk of serious bodily injury (ch. 265, § 13L) has no time limit, though a case filed more than 27 years later needs corroborating evidence. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 277, § 63; ch. 265, §§ 13J, 13L
Assault: Less certain Six years from the crime for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery causing serious injury, and most other assaults. Simple (misdemeanor) assault and battery: also six years. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 277, § 63
Child sexual abuse: CSA: There is no SOL for many sex abuse felonies and an SOL of 6 years from the offense for all remaining felonies and misdemeanors. Trafficking: There is no SOL for trafficking. CSAM: The SOL for CSAM offenses is age 22. CHILD USA's summary

The injury, assault and physical abuse lines are our reading of the statutes linked, as they stood on 28 September 2026. The child sexual abuse lines are CHILD USA's summary as it stood on 28 September 2026; their page may be more current than ours. In them SOL means statute of limitations, CSA child sexual abuse, and CSAM child sexual abuse material. "Less certain" marks a line where the law is unclear or where our reading has not been confirmed, so please treat it with extra care. Exceptions, court rulings and the details of what happened can all change which time limit applies, and some of these may be longer or shorter for you than they look here. CHILD USA's statute of limitations tracker, updated as each state changes its law. A lawyer can tell you which time limit applies to you, and many offer a free first consultation.

The therapist's licensing board

Holds the individual clinician's licence and can suspend or revoke it.

Massachusetts Division of Occupational Licensure, Office of Investigations

Multiple professions

Investigates complaints against licensed mental health counselors, marriage and family therapists, psychiatric nurse mental health specialists, psychologists and social workers, and the boards discipline those who breach the licensing regulations.

Use this whenAny of those licence types in Massachusetts.

HowFile through the Commonwealth's ePLACE portal, or call or write the Office of Investigations and ask for a complaint form. File a separate complaint for each person or facility.

Be specific: location, date, the licensee's name and licence number, any witnesses, and copies of records, correspondence or photographs that support what you are saying.

617-624-6199 Board of Registration of Allied Mental Health and Human Services Professions, 9am to 5pm weekdays.
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amh.board@mass.gov

The agency that licenses the program

Inspects the facility itself and can cite, fine, suspend or close it.

Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC)

Licenses the residential facilities and congregate care programs themselves, along with foster care and adoption placement agencies - around 9,000 programs in all - and takes complaints about them.

Use this whenThe residential program. EEC also takes reports of care being provided without a licence at all.

HowCall the EEC regional office for the area the program is in. There is a separate online form for reporting unlicensed care.

If the complaint involves suspected abuse or neglect rather than a licensing breach, EEC tells you to file a 51A with DCF first.

Law enforcement and legal channels

Child protection, the Attorney General, and the criminal side.

Massachusetts Child-at-Risk Hotline (51A report)

The 24-hour line for reporting suspected child abuse or neglect to the Department of Children and Families. A report here is what Massachusetts calls a 51A.

Use this whenA child at a Massachusetts program.

HowCall the hotline. Every other agency in the state will tell you to do this first where abuse or neglect is alleged.

1-800-792-5200 24 hours a day.
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Oversight and advocacy

Bodies with a right to investigate, and advocates who can act for you.

Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate

An independent office overseeing every child-serving state agency in Massachusetts. It publishes a resource guide naming which agency does what, and takes concerns about how the system has handled a child.

It reviews the agencies rather than licensing or prosecuting a program.

Use this whenA family or young person who has reported to a Massachusetts agency and got nowhere.

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Disability Law Center (Massachusetts)

Massachusetts's Protection and Advocacy agency, with federal authority to investigate abuse and neglect of people with disabilities in facilities, a right of access to them, and free legal advocacy.

Use this whenA Massachusetts program where the young person has a disability or a mental health diagnosis.

HowContact the intake line.

1-800-872-9992 Main line 617-723-8455; TTY 617-892-4404.
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National reporting channels, and the same list for other states