At 11am on Friday, October 21st, State Representative Carole Fiola and State Senator Michael Rodrigues will host a Dedication Ceremony of the Grove at Heritage State Park (in the picnic area) in honor of David Almond, a Fall River autistic teen, who tragically passed away in October of 2020 at the age of 14 from starvation and neglect. Community members are invited to attend and take a moment to remember David and create a permanent reminder that children, just like David, live within our system and deserve all of our care, attention and vigilance from those who may cause them harm or death.  

David's death sparked outrage and led to the Office of the Child Advocate to conduct a multi-agency review which has resulted in numerous substantial policy changes, so that tragedies like this one do not happen again.
 
Representative Fiola and Senator Rodrigues filed legislation to dedicate the grove at Heritage State Park as the David Almond Grove in his honor. https://malegislature.gov/Bills/192/H4832 

The Investigation Status Report from the Office of the Child Advocate was released in March of 2022 and can be found here: https://www.mass.gov/doc/oca-investigation-status-report-on-david-almondmarch-2022/download