Massachusetts General Laws
Chapter 119 - Protection and Care of Children, and Proceedings Against Them
Section 35 - Furnishing Parent or Guardian Information as to Child; Permission to Visit; Notice; Parents Convicted of First Degree Murder

Section 35. If the parent or guardian of a child placed in charge of any person, association or public or private institution by any state department, town board, or by any public or private corporation or body of persons authorized by law to so place children, or if one of the next of kin of an orphan so placed in charge and without guardian, is not, upon request, informed by such department, board, corporation or body of persons where the child is, the probate court for the county where such child has his legal residence may, upon petition of such parent, guardian or next of kin, and upon notice, if in its opinion the welfare of the child and the public interest will not be injured thereby, require such department, board, corporation or body of persons to give the information and permit the parent, guardian or next of kin to visit the child at such times and under such conditions as the court orders; and the court may revise its order or make new orders or decrees as the welfare of the child and the public interest may require. No court shall make an order providing visitation rights to a parent who has been convicted of murder in the first degree of the other parent of the child who is the subject of the order, unless such child is of suitable age to signify his assent and assents to such order; provided, further, that until such order is issued, no person shall visit, with the child present, a parent who has been convicted of murder in the first degree of the other parent of the child without the consent of the child's custodian or legal guardian.

Structure Massachusetts General Laws