Treasurer
Meegan Simpson-Best
Meegan has thirty years direct experience working with children and families in Massachusetts. She worked for two non-profit human service agencies before working for The Department of Children and Families for the past 25 years. In her work with Northeast Family Institute, she was an Assistant Director of two residential programs that had a total of 21 beds.The youth were involved with the Department of Mental Health and Department of Social Services.
She next worked for three years as a clinician for Justice Resource Institute. This was in a secure male DYS assessment unit. Two years after the birth of her first child in 1997, she accepted a position at the Department of Social Services, Lynn Area Office, as an ongoing social worker. Shortly, thereafter, she was hired as the Department’s first Kinship Social Worker. The position put Meegan in direct contact with thousands of grandparents raising grandchildren and other kinship caregivers.
In 2008, Meegan began DCF’s Lynn Grandparents Raising Grandchildren 7support group, which continues to meet to this day. This is a community-based interagency collaboration that supports and informs this vulnerable population. Meegan’s work with the group formed a bridge to the Massachusetts Commission on Grandparents Raising Grandchildren.
On May 31, 2019, Meegan presented the DCF Lynn Grandparents Raising Grandchildren support group at the Youth at Risk Conference at Salem State University; with Clinical Director for JRI and Massachusetts State Rep. Paul Donato. This program demonstrated the interagency collaboration support for grandparents and relative caregivers.
Meegan’s goal is to continue to help develop and implement a statewide support network for this vulnerable group of caregivers. In 2021, Meegan was awarded the John Lepper Advocacy Award by the Commission on Grandparents Raising Grandchildren for outstanding dedication and advocacy for grandparents and relative caregivers in the Lynn community. Later that same year, Meegan was appointed to the Commission by Massachusetts Senate President Karen Spilka in 2021.
Meegan has thirty years direct experience working with children and families in Massachusetts. She worked for two non-profit human service agencies before working for The Department of Children and Families for the past 25 years. In her work with Northeast Family Institute, she was an Assistant Director of two residential programs that had a total of 21 beds.The youth were involved with the Department of Mental Health and Department of Social Services.
She next worked for three years as a clinician for Justice Resource Institute. This was in a secure male DYS assessment unit. Two years after the birth of her first child in 1997, she accepted a position at the Department of Social Services, Lynn Area Office, as an ongoing social worker. Shortly, thereafter, she was hired as the Department’s first Kinship Social Worker. The position put Meegan in direct contact with thousands of grandparents raising grandchildren and other kinship caregivers.
In 2008, Meegan began DCF’s Lynn Grandparents Raising Grandchildren 7support group, which continues to meet to this day. This is a community-based interagency collaboration that supports and informs this vulnerable population. Meegan’s work with the group formed a bridge to the Massachusetts Commission on Grandparents Raising Grandchildren.
On May 31, 2019, Meegan presented the DCF Lynn Grandparents Raising Grandchildren support group at the Youth at Risk Conference at Salem State University; with Clinical Director for JRI and Massachusetts State Rep. Paul Donato. This program demonstrated the interagency collaboration support for grandparents and relative caregivers.
Meegan’s goal is to continue to help develop and implement a statewide support network for this vulnerable group of caregivers. In 2021, Meegan was awarded the John Lepper Advocacy Award by the Commission on Grandparents Raising Grandchildren for outstanding dedication and advocacy for grandparents and relative caregivers in the Lynn community. Later that same year, Meegan was appointed to the Commission by Massachusetts Senate President Karen Spilka in 2021.