The Department of Children and Families has 29 Area Office Medical Social Workers, one per area office.

This role was created in 2016 and is a resource for DCF offices and for foster and adoptive families, to help support and navigate health care access for foster care youth. The medical social workers work directly with area offices around compliance on health screens and comprehensive exams for all youth who come into the care and custody of DCF. These individuals are office based, which makes them easy to always reach, and foster and adoptive families should feel comfortable outreaching to them directly to assist with any barrier to access to care for the youth they are caring for.

This includes but is not limited to the following:

• changing MassHealth Plans
• navigating pharmacy barriers
• identifying providers
• obtaining medical records or immunization records.

Our goal is to resolve any barrier related to the healthcare of the child in a short period of time. We are skilled at working directly with MassHealth, pharmacies, durable medical companies, and provider practices. You can find the contact information for the medical social worker in your area office by downloading the contact sheet below.