At a time when children nationwide are struggling with heightened mental health needs, Connecticut lawmakers on the Committee on Children plan to address the state’s children’s mental health system, child care and foster care, among other issues.
The committee will start the session during a transitional time for the state’s Department of Children and Families. Former Commissioner Vannessa Dorantes announced her departure late last year after more than 30 years with DCF, and Gov. Ned Lamont has nominated former Deputy Commissioner of Administration Jodi Hill-Lilly to fill the commissioner role.
DCF is charged with the care of some of the state’s most vulnerable populations — children in foster care — and provides or assists with other services for kids such as mental health care. The commissioner of this department has the opportunity to have a quick and lasting impact on families and children across the state.
Leadership of the legislature’s children’s committee said they’re also going to look at ways to support children’s mental health as Connecticut continues to grapple with heightened behavioral health needs since the pandemic. They also plan to work on food insecurity and regulations for summer camps and child care agencies.
State agencies that address children’s needs have proposed adjustments to laws around foster care placements and adoptions as well as early child care. Lamont has proposed cutting application fees for home child care licenses.
“Those three things that I spoke about — early child care, food and summer camps — I know that they’re big ticket numbers, and the rest of the session we’re looking at things that truly don’t have much of a budget impact,” said Sen. Ceci Maher, D-Wilton, the children’s committee co-chair. “Those are the big shiny things I want to see. These are things that motivate me to get done, because I know they’ll have the greatest impact for kids.”
Sen. Lisa Seminara, R-Avon, a ranking member of the committee, said she wants to work on regulations for summer camps and adjust the complaint process. She said she also wants to look into recent high-profile cases about problems within DCF, including reports of abuse and other problems at a group home in Harwinton.
Mental health
The Office of the Child Advocate recently issued a report outlining the issues of caring for children who have faced several traumas and have complicated mental health care needs. Child Advocate Sarah Eagan said the state’s strained mental health system will likely be one of the major challenges for the new commissioner.
“I do not expect perfection,” Eagan said. “I do not expect things to not go wrong. I do not expect things to work all right the first time. What we are hoping, always hoping, to achieve are structures for candid, constructive, real-time analysis of what’s working, what isn’t and as much consensus as we can create for policy for our highest-need children.”
She said she wants to see more transparency from DCF, including public reporting about how the agency is serving kids, more oversight from the State Advisory Committee and regular meetings with OCA to talk about challenges in the system.
The past couple of legislative sessions have seen focus from the children’s committee on supporting children’s mental health. More parents and children have reported behavioral health issues in recent years including eating disorders, depression and anxiety.
Among other legislative proposals, DCF asked for the law to change so that the state’s urgent crisis centers are certified by the agency for insurance and ambulance purposes. The state anticipates that much of the crisis centers, which are meant to offer services to kids with emergency mental health needs, will be funded through insurance in future years.
The DCF report notes that the centers may also need general fund money in the future. They were initially funded through COVID relief dollars.
Child care
Maher said she also wants to work to improve child care access, particularly for early education.
It’s been tough for many families to access early child care because of high costs and a declining number of slots available. The early child care workforce has also declined following the pandemic, in part due to low wages.
Birth to three care is particularly important for a child’s brain development. The early connections with caregivers help their brains organize, and their brains are building up to a million connections every second, said Patricia Cole, senior director of policy at Zero to Three, at a training for journalists earlier this month.
“So this is where we can have the greatest impact for our children … by providing child care, and making it not only accessible, but affordable. So that when we need a workforce, we need to make sure that we have the people to do the work in the state.”
Lack of access to child care has made it difficult for many, particularly women, to be a part of the workforce.
Seminara said she wants to work on regulations for summer camps and ensure that there is follow-up to any complaints. A CT Insider report last year showed that summer camps in Connecticut were rarely disciplined for breaking regulations. The report followed parents’ complaints about a camp in Lebanon where staff allegedly yelled at children and threatened to withhold food, among other allegations.
“I believe that we should be following up and ensuring that the complaint has been rectified,” Seminara said.
Maher said she also wants to look at ways to ensure that kids have access to universal breakfast so that they can learn more effectively.
A new commissioner
Meanwhile, confirmation hearings for the governor’s nominee to lead DCF will likely start early in the session, lawmakers said.
Sen. Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, said he met with Hill-Lilly and thinks she’ll be a good fit for the job.
“I think Jodi is going to continue in that good work and somebody who has her own vision, her own plan and a way in which to build upon the successes of the two commissioners before her,” he said.
But he said it’s a hard job to do. “When you have an agency like DCF, nothing is ever perfect, and when something is not perfect, it’s a tragedy many times,” Duff said.
Seminara and Maher also said they were hopeful about Hill-Lilly’s appointment and thought she seemed qualified for the job.
Seminara said she hopes the new commissioner will take recent reports from the Office of the Child Advocate seriously, particularly recent reports on the Harwinton group home.