SECTION 1. Subclause (o) of clause Twenty-sixth of section 7 of chapter 4 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2012 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “6”, in line 222, the following words:- ; provided, however, that a department of children and families social worker’s home address and home telephone number shall not be disclosed in any court proceeding and in any proceeding preliminary thereto unless upon order of a court of competent jurisdiction pursuant to section 135C of chapter 112.

SECTION 2. Section 10 of chapter 66 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “6”, in line 73, the following words:- ; provided, however, that a department of children and families social worker’s home address and home telephone number shall not be disclosed in any court proceeding and in any proceeding preliminary thereto unless upon order of a court of competent jurisdiction pursuant to section 135C of chapter 112.

SECTION 3. Chapter 112 of the General Laws, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after section 135C the following section:-

Section 135D. (a) In any court proceeding and in any proceeding preliminary thereto, a social worker employed by the department of children and families shall have the privilege of refusing to disclose and of preventing a witness from disclosing the social worker’s home address and home telephone number except as otherwise ordered by the court; provided, that the court enters orders and conditions to limit the disclosure 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 such social worker and in accordance with the Massachusetts Rules of Civil or Criminal Procedure governing any service of process. For the purpose of 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 service upon parties at a work address so certified shall be sufficient.