The Siblings of a Deceased Disabled Teenager

Imagine living fifty years without knowing where your sibling was buried, only to find that they were buried in a nameless grave in the woods, with only a letter and number to mark their final resting place. Then imagine being told that you cannot see the state's records about your loved one unless you hire an attorney and go through an uncertain and costly legal process.

This is the case for thousands of people whose disabled family members died in state institutions, including on Massachusetts group of siblings whose sibling is buried in the MetFern Cemetery; an institutional cemetery in Waltham, Massachusetts where 296 people are buried anonymously after dying at the Fernald State School and Metropolitan State Hospital.

As advocates for the disabled dead, we are raising money so that these siblings can hire an attorney to see, for the first time, the records the state has about their loved one.

Most of these people died without children and their parents are long-deceased. Their records are locked away and family members are prohibited from accessing these records without taking certain legal steps that can be very costly. Often, the records the state kept are all that is left to tell them the story of their loved one's life.

Fifty years is too long to wait to read what happened to a loved one. Please help us ensure that another year does not pass without justice for these siblings.

To read more about our work, please visit http://www.metfern.org/