Massachusetts § 20N Disclosure of home address or personal telephone number of social worker employed by the department of children and families; service of process, summons or subpoena upon social worker; state-issued identification cards

Massachusetts Statutes

§ 20N — Disclosure of home address or personal telephone number of social worker employed by the department of children and families; service of process, summons or subpoena upon social worker; state-issued identification cards

Massachusetts § 20N

Part IIICOURTS, JUDICIAL OFFICERS AND PROCEEDINGS IN CIVIL CASES

Title IIACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS THEREIN

Ch. 233WITNESSES AND EVIDENCE

This text of Massachusetts § 20N (Disclosure of home address or personal telephone number of social worker employed by the department of children and families; service of process, summons or subpoena upon social worker; state-issued identification cards) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 233, § 20N (2026).

Text

Section 20N.

(a)No court shall permit or require the disclosure of the home address or personal telephone number of a social worker employed by the department of children and families; and no witness shall be required to disclose such social worker's home address or personal telephone number in any court proceeding or in any proceeding preliminary thereto or in any documents filed with the court, except as otherwise ordered by the court, for good cause shown; provided, however, that an order of the court shall include, if possible, conditions to limit the disclosure of any such address or phone number so as to protect the privacy and safety of the social worker.

(b)Service of process, summons or subpoena upon a department of children and families social worker in any court proceeding and

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Section 20N. (a) No court shall permit or require the disclosure of the home address or personal telephone number of a social worker employed by the department of children and families; and no witness shall be required to disclose such social worker's home address or personal telephone number in any court proceeding or in any proceeding preliminary thereto or in any documents filed with the court, except as otherwise ordered by the court, for good cause shown; provided, however, that an order of the court shall include, if possible, conditions to limit the disclosure of any such address or phone number so as to protect the privacy and safety of the social worker.(b) Service of process, summons or subpoena upon a department of children and families social worker in any court proceeding and in any proceeding preliminary thereto shall be made upon the agency employing the social worker and in accordance with the Massachusetts Rules of Civil Procedure or the Massachusetts Rules of Criminal Procedure governing any such service of process, summons or subpoena. For the purpose of making such service, the employing agency, upon request, shall certify to the summoning party the name and work address of any such social worker as disclosed by its records, and a summoning party may serve the social worker at the work address so certified.(c) Each social worker employed by the department of children and families shall be provided with a state-issued identification card showing the name and position of the worker and containing a recent picture. In performing any of the social worker's duties, the social worker shall display the identification card and such card shall be accepted as proof of the social worker's identity unless the person to whom it is displayed has a good faith basis for denying its authenticity.(d) No person, facility, school or law enforcement agency, jail or house of correction shall require a social worker employed by the department of children and families to provide, in connection with the performance of the social worker's duties: (i) documentation including, but not limited to, a driver's license, other than the state-issued identification card described in subsection (c); or (ii) the social worker's home address or personal telephone number.(e) The home address and personal telephone number of a social worker employed by the department of children and families shall be redacted from law enforcement agency reports before such reports are released to any person.