Owning certain dog breeds can block Massachusetts families from adopting kids. A new bill would change that.
BOSTON - Massachusetts lawmakers voted to pass a bill Thursday that would change how the state evaluates a family's dogs when making decisions about whether they are fit to foster or adopt children.
The legislation approved by the Senate would have the Department of Children and Families look at veterinary records and a pet's behavioral history instead of judging the dog based off its breed.
"Currently, a family who is thinking of adopting cannot do so if they own breeds including Rottweilers, Pit Bulls, German Shepherds, or a dog which mixes at least two of these three breeds," Senate President Karen Spilka's office said in a statement.
About 3 in 10 Massachusetts households have a dog, according to 2021 Census data cited by Spilka.
Dog breeds and behavior
Supporters of the bill point to research that says a dog's breed has little to do with how it will behave. A 2022 study out of Massachusetts found that breeds do not predict how affectionate a dog is or how quick it might be to anger.
The MSPCA supports the bill and says current policies "discriminate against those who properly train and socialize their dogs."
"Dogs should be judged as the individuals they are - not based on outdated and long-ago-disproven stereotypes," the organization said. "Families are broken or kept apart due to these types of policies."
DCF workers ask about dog's breed
The bill passed the House of Representatives in July. Bill sponsor Rep. Jack Patrick Lewis of Framingham said on the House floor that a DCF worker asked about the breed of his bulldog when he and his husband were thinking about adopting another child or becoming foster parents.
"If that DCF social worker, well-intended as she was, had put down pit bull mix or something else along those same terms, my family wouldn't have been able to welcome more people into our home, and I wouldn't have the joy of now having the number of kids that I now have," Lewis said, according to the State House News Service.
The bill now heads to Gov. Maura Healey's desk for approval.