Rosie D. Project

The Center for Public Representation (CPR) has been awarded a grant from the Tower Foundation for a three-year Project to preserve and enhance access to home-based services for children and youth in Massachusetts. These services, also known as the Children’s Behavioral Health Initiative (CBHI), were created pursuant to class action litigation in Rosie D. v. Baker. The Rosie D. Preservation Project looks to evaluate the current landscape now that federal court jurisdiction and oversight of the case has ended. It also seeks to ensure continued access to medically necessary care for Rosie D. class members, particularly youth from diverse racial and linguistic communities, and those at risk of court involvement because of unmet mental health needs.
The Project is built upon, and will be informed by, a collaboration between CPR and partners at Massachusetts Advocates for Children (MAC), the Children’s Law Center of Massachusetts (CLCM), and the Youth Advocacy Foundation (YAF) of the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS). Each organization was selected because of its unique subject matter expertise, its existing client base of diverse, Medicaid-eligible youth, and its commitment to advocacy at the intersection between behavioral health services and special education, child welfare, and juvenile justice.