The program, which is currently voluntary and called “Welcome Family,” is overseen by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
After the state agency said it followed up on approximately 3,000 births in 2025, Gov. Maura Healey has announced she plans to expand the program statewide with an additional $2 million. That will provide what she called “universal access” to “Welcome Family” starting in 2027.
The total number of births in Massachusetts averages 68,000 annually.
The motive behind expanding “Welcome Family” appears to be the Lindsay Clancy murder trial that took place in Plymouth, Mass. Clancy’s mental state while killing her children, including postpartum depression, was a key strategy of her defense during the two-week trial that ended with a deadlocked jury.
The trial also garnered her a lot of sympathy, especially from politically liberal women.
According to DPH figures, its screening of 3,000 new mothers in 2025 included 1,620 who were screened for postpartum depression. A total of 208 of the women screened positive for postpartum depression, which is 12.8% of the 1,620 mothers and 6.9% of the program’s total participants.
Gov. Healey announced the $2 million budget expansion last week. In a friendly interview with Boston Public Radio, she seemed to suggest a home visit from a DPH employee will be mandatory.
“Everybody in the state, when you have a baby, you're going to have a home visit within days, weeks,” Healey stated. “And that will be an opportunity for a healthcare provider to make an assessment to see if you need some additional support and resources.”
The Governor’s own words sparked a fury online, since the voluntary program now sounded mandatory for 60,000-plus new mothers across the state.
"Lunatic libs," Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-Montana) posted on X.
"IDK who needs to hear this… but the government DOES NOT OWN your baby," Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C. wrote on X.
C.J. Doyle, executive director of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, told American Family News he suspects the home visits will be mandatory despite how the program is being described.
"Gov. Healey markets it as very benign,” he observed, “but actually the implications are very sinister.”
The implication, he continued, is you are opening your front door for “government inspections” of your home, and your capability to be a parent and caregiver, as determined by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
When AFN searched online for any clarification from Gov. Healey, it could not find a comment or statement from her office, or from DPH, that walked back her radio comments.
A search online for a clarification linked to last week's press release. That press release does state the current home visit program is voluntary, but that doesn’t clarify if the expanded program will remain voluntary.
An article from WBUR, Boston's NPR station, also didn't help. It states the program would be "optional" and free to all parents, but comments from medical officials could be interpreted to say the plan is to screen every mother in Massachusetts for postpartum depression.
"The goal is really to serve as an entry point into the early childhood system of care for families with newborns,” DPH official Elaine Fitzgerald, director of family health programs, states.
A family physician, quoted in the article, told WBUR it's unclear how much a single home visit can accomplish, since other countries perform several visits.
"But we have to start somewhere," the physician stated.
Doyle urges Massachusetts families to ask their state lawmakers to block the proposed new funding.
“This is a vast expansion of government power that ought to be resisted,” he warned.
