The bill would ensure judges can hear cases involving children in the DCF system alleging abuse and neglect even once those children turn 18.
Laura Tillman
Laura Tillman is CT Mirror’s Human Services Reporter. She shares responsibility for covering housing, child protection, mental health and addiction, developmental disabilities, and other vulnerable populations. Laura began her career in journalism at the Brownsville Herald in 2007, covering the U.S.–Mexico border, and worked as a statehouse reporter for the Associated Press in Mississippi. She was most recently a producer of the national security podcast “In the Room with Peter Bergen” and is the author of two nonfiction books: The Long Shadow of Small Ghosts (2016) and The Migrant Chef: The Life and Times of Lalo Garcia (2023), which was just awarded the 2024 James Beard Award for literary writing. Her freelance work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and The Los Angeles Times. Laura holds a degree in International Studies from Vassar College and an MFA in nonfiction writing from Goucher College.
Posted inMoney
Lamont wants to dip into opioid settlement to fund social services
Despite a CT law ensuring the money would be used to counteract the epidemic, Lamont wants to tap into it to pay for social service programs.
Posted inMoney
Child care is center of governor’s human services budget
Lamont’s budget invests in universal preschool but does not meet the needs of other nonprofits, like food banks and homelessness providers.
Posted inHuman Services
Nonprofits call federal funding freeze ‘beyond comprehension’
CT agencies that provide homelessness services, rental assistance, SNAP benefits and more reacted with alarm and confusion to the directive.
Posted inJustice
Comptroller vows to fight wage theft with proposed bill
The bill would target companies under investigation for wage theft by empowering the comptroller to cut off payments for state contracts.
Posted inHealth
CT, 14 other states reach $7.4B deal with Sacklers, Purdue Pharma
CT would receive around $64M, Attorney General William Tong said, in a renegotiated settlement that is $1.4B more than a previous deal.
Posted inHuman Services
Early childhood, school meals among lawmakers’ priorities
The Committee on Children’s priorities will include child care costs and staff pay, safety technology in schools and universal free meals.
Posted inHealth
CT senators seek to guard against federal cuts in health funding
CT Democrats are attempting to preemptively pass legislation to soften the fallout of possible retaliatory federal cuts to health spending.
Posted inEconomic Development
CT ‘baby bonds’ program discussed at Federal Reserve conference
Stakeholders and CT officials discussed the first-in-the-nation program, and how it may be planting the seeds of a national movement.
Posted inHousing
Opioid settlement funds approved for housing support
The $58.6 million initiative will support people with opioid use disorder who are unhoused.
Posted inCrossing Connecticut
BEST OF 2024: How chef Jacques Pépin found, and shaped, CT’s food community
Jacques Pepin, known for his cookbooks and TV shows, moved to CT in the mid-’70s. That decision has had a big impact on CT’s food community.
Posted inHealth
CT Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee slow to distribute funds
Several organizations say they haven’t heard back from the committee and are confused by OSAC’s methods for distributing the funds.
Posted inHuman Services
CT groups find creative solutions to address rising food insecurity
From food forests to mobile pantries, CT organizations are finding ways to use nature, community and technology to get food to more people.
Posted inHuman Services
On CT Adoption Day, 40 children find their forever homes
Friday marked CT Adoption Day, in which 40 children were adopted. Around 350 children are expected to be adopted this year in the state.
Posted inHuman Services
Child Advocate says problems persist at prisons for incarcerated youth
The Child Advocate has recommended a significant change in the approach to running facilities for incarcerated youth in Connecticut.
