The Department of Children and Families says that the mother of a New Britain girl whose decomposing remains were found earlier this month had another child impersonate the girl during a wellness check with the child welfare agency early this year, months after the preteen is believed to have died. 

The remains of Jacqueline “Mimi” Torres-García were found on Oct. 8 in New Britain in a plastic container. Lawmakers and advocates have demanded answers from DCF about the nature of the department’s involvement in the life of Torres-García and her family and questioned how such a tragedy could have occurred.

The case has also spurred renewed attention in the lack of monitoring of homeschooled children in the state, as details emerged that the girl’s parents appeared to have used homeschooling as a cover for Torres-García’s absence from school after her death.

On Friday, DCF provided some details of its role in Torres-García’s life. According to the department, it first became involved with the girl’s family when she was born. At the time, Torres-García’s mother, Karla García, was in a detention center, so the baby was placed with a relative where she remained until May 2022, when she was 9 years old. That year, her parents sought guardianship of both Torres-García and her younger sibling, which was granted by the court, a decision supported by DCF at the time. 

“The Department’s recommendation was made after conducting a review of the family’s history and current circumstances, an interview with Jacqueline and her sibling and an assessment of the parents’ current ability to care for them at that time,” according to a statement provided by DCF. 

The department then interacted with Torres-García “during a subsequent investigation” in September 2022 involving her younger siblings, but there was not enough evidence to substantiate child abuse or neglect. DCF closed the case in November 2022.

For the following two years, DCF says, it had no involvement with the family, although it notes that Karla García filed and was granted sole custody of Torres-García and a sibling in June 2024.

But in January of this year, allegations were again made against García regarding the treatment of Torres-García’s younger sibling. As DCF checked on the sibling and then attempted to check on Torres-García, her mother told DCF employees that she was being homeschooled and had gone to visit a relative out of state. In response, “DCF conducted a video call with a person who (the) mother claimed to be Jacqueline.” But police have said they believe that Jacqueline had died months earlier. DCF, apparently satisfied with that call, closed the case in March 2025. 

The death of Torres-García came to light at a moment when two of the state’s top child welfare positions are vacant — the commissioner of DCF and the Office of the Child Advocate, a critical role for child welfare that has been vacant since Sarah Eagan resigned from the position in July 2024. The child advocate is Connecticut’s critical mechanism for investigating state agencies such as DCF that handle the care of the state’s most vulnerable children. 

“This horrific situation should not have happened, and we are angry to hear that our state’s systems did not protect Jacqueline,” said Children’s Committee co-chairs Sen. Ceci Maher, D-Wilton, and Rep. Corey Paris, D-Stamford, in a Thursday statement. “As we learn more, it is becoming apparent that the Department of Children and Families failed her; DCF has one of the most important roles in our state, and when it accepts less than 110%, our most vulnerable children are left in harm’s way, with children like Jacqueline suffering the consequences. 

“It’s clear that DCF did not meet the moment here, and we need answers as to how and why this happened, as well as assurances that we can make certain it never happens again.”

Police found the decomposed remains of Torres-García inside a plastic storage bin in New Britain on Oct. 8 after receiving a phone tip about suspicious activity at an abandoned building. Police say they believe she may have been dead for as long as a year before her remains were discovered. Depending on when she was killed, she would have been either 11 or 12 years old. 

Police say the child’s mother and mother’s boyfriend had hidden her body in their basement before a family move. Both adults, along with the girl’s aunt, have been charged with felonies in relation to the murder. Those arrested had criminal histories, some of which dealt with the treatment of children, according to court records.

Karla García was convicted of third-degree assault in 2018. The child’s aunt, Jackelyn Garcia, was convicted of risk of injury to a child in 2022. In 2020, Jonatan Nanita, the mother’s boyfriend, was convicted on a reckless endangerment charge, according to court records. 

Police say there is evidence Jacqueline suffered extensively before her death from malnutrition and physical abuse. 

New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart said during a Monday press conference that no one reported the girl missing, and that the family had a prior history with DCF. The agency confirmed that the girl’s siblings have since been taken into their custody. 

DCF’s interim Commissioner Susan Hamilton said the department is conducting a review of their history with the family.

“We have already begun a thorough review of our history with the family,” Hamilton said in a statement. “Consistent with our practice, this multidisciplinary review will include our knowledge about the family, supports provided, casework decisions, adherence to policy, as well as communication and collaboration with other system and community partners.”

Josh Michtom, a senior attorney at the Center for Children’s Advocacy, said that even at such a tragic moment, policymakers should remember that removing kids from their parents is, in many cases, harmful.

“Unfortunately, I think a very, very good system, which we do not have, wouldn’t prevent every tragedy, but removing more children won’t prevent them either,” Michtom said. “We need well-supported offices, mental health care and an oversight body, and I don’t think we have any of those things right now.”

Information provided by DCF that shows the family appears to have effectively used the pretense of homeschooling to deceive caseworkers has also put renewed pressure on the state to address a lack of oversight for homeschooling. 

The case comes on the heels of the highly publicized case of a Waterbury man who was allegedly imprisoned for decades by his now-deceased father and stepmother after being pulled out of public school around the fifth grade.

An OCA report released in May found that lax homeschooling regulations have resulted in some Connecticut children not getting a proper education, while the opaque system has been used to cover up abuse.

In 2023, another child was found locked away and abused after he had been removed from school for homeschooling. And, in 2017, a Connecticut teenager died after prolonged abuse and neglect, and it was later discovered that his parents had pulled his sister out of school for homeschooling, according to the report.

Over the past three years in Connecticut, about 5,200 children have been withdrawn from public school to be homeschooled, state officials said Monday. This number doesn’t include students who have been homeschooled for their entire education.

Christina Ghio, who has been working as the acting child advocate for more than a year, said this week that her agency has begun a comprehensive investigation of the Torres-García case that will examine DCF’s involvement with the family and the role of homeschooling in the case

Though she said it was too early to draw conclusions, Ghio wrote in a statement that, “On the issue of homeschooling, we know from previous investigations that some parents use Connecticut’s complete lack of oversight of homeschooled children to withdraw their children from school, isolate them, shield themselves from reports to our child welfare agency, and neglect or abuse their children. This is a known policy issue that the state must address.”

Rep. Liz Linehan, D-Cheshire, also expressed concern about the lack of regulation for homeschooled children. 

“It was my position then, and it is my position now, that the law allows for abusive parents to exploit loopholes and unenroll their children from public school under the guise of homeschooling to prevent a DCF referral from the school if a child is being abused.”

“The real questions have nothing whatsoever to do with homeschool,” said Diane Connors, the founder and co-president of CT Homeschool Network, asking why the child was left with relatives who had come to the state’s attention previously. “DCF failed yet again. Those are the real issues that need to be addressed, not homeschooling.” 

Rep. Patrick Biggins, D-Manchester, convened a working group earlier this year to examine homeschool issues and regulations, but that group quickly disbanded. Biggins said he views this case as separate from homeschooling.

“I think that shouldn’t be because of this tragedy,” Biggins said of the law. “It should be because it’s the right thing to do. We shouldn’t be reactive in the laws that we implement.”

He said he doesn’t want to discuss a potential proposal to regulate homeschooling until more details are ironed out.

Rob Blanchard, a spokesman for Gov. Ned Lamont, said that the governor is open to a conversation about homeschooling regulations.

“The governor continues to be supportive of ideas or approaches that keep kids safe,” Blanchard said Friday.

Children’s Committee ranking member Rep. Anne Dauphinais, R-Killingly, said state lawmakers and the community need answers about the case from DCF and about the school interactions.

“However, the rush by some to scapegoat homeschooling and formulate policy changes goes too far,” Dauphinais said in a statement. “We must have a full accounting of what transpired to ensure accountability and develop appropriate responses. To do otherwise would be a failure of our responsibility to learn the right lessons from this heartbreaking loss.”

Many lawmakers believe the problem lies with DCF and say the agency must be transparent about what happened in this case.

“The system failed Mimi on multiple levels,” said a joint statement from Sen. Jason Perillo, R-Shelton, and Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield. “We owe it to her to demand answers. Thorough investigations must be conducted.”