The first woman to ever hold the 1st Hampshire District seat, Lindsay Sabadosa has her AB from Wellesley College (‘02) and her MSc from the University of Edinburgh (‘06). She was the recipient of the Wellesley-Yenching Program Fellowship, which led her to spend a year in Nanjing, China as a fellow at Ginling College at Nanjing University. She then moved to Italy where she worked in Marketing & Communications at CUP2000, a company in Bologna that strives to improve access and delivery of health care and provide telemedicine solutions throughout the European Union. In the same period, she opened her own small business, a translation firm, specializing in Italian and French legal and financial translation with a focus on international litigation, contract law, and finance. She ran this firm, with over 300 clients on six continents, for nearly 17 years until her election.
I support Senate Bill S. 1963 (Children in need of services reform) introduced by Senator Karen E. Spilka and Representative Paul J. Donato. This bill provides alternatives to the juvenile justice system for dealing with youth with serious problems, including substance abuse, undiagnosed mental health conditions, domestic violence, and sexual abuse. Currently the only interventions available are through juvenile court, which most often results in parents losing custody of their children. I also support reforms of DCF practices that remove children from their homes as a measure of first resort, rather than of last resort.
We can be proud of the fact that a 2014 study by the Ann E. Casey Foundation found that Massachusetts ranked number one in overall well-being of children. Our State came out on top in education and second in healthcare. However, all is not well for our children. The same study also found that Massachusetts children ranked 13th on the measure of economic well-being. It found that 30%, or 414,000 children, were living in homes where their parents lacked secure employment in 2012, up from 26% of children in 2008. And at school, 45% of eighth graders in Massachusetts were not proficient in math, and 53% of fourth graders were not proficient in reading, compared to 66% of children for both measures nationwide. We must do better, and I will champion legislation that will help our youngest residents stay healthy, safe, and able to reach their full potential.