The drop in enrollment disproportionately landed in the state’s 10 lowest performing districts, worsening Connecticut’s already severe achievement gaps.
Connecticut Department of Children and Families
Posted inJustice
Bill would provide attorneys to young adults in DCF care
Roughly 450 young adults in DCF’s care would receive legal counsel and a bill
Posted inHealth
As DCF’s Katz bows out, the risky world of child protection awaits new administration
Joette Katz, who served under Gov. Dannel P. Malloy for eight years, is resigning next month after what is believed to be one of the longest tenures leading a state child-protection agency in the nation. But it wasn’t always easy. Despite Malloy’s loyalty to her, Katz’s abrasive personality, refusal to back down from controversial decisions, and her decision to march the child protection agency in a new and sometimes perilous direction, resulted in a rocky eight years.
Posted inEducation
A pregnant teen dies, and DCF debates value of more transparency
Testifying at the state Capitol complex Wednesday about a spate of suicide attempts at the state’s psychiatric facility for children, the commissioner of the Department of Children and Families held up her right hand and promised to start publicly disclosing when outside inspectors deem the facility unsafe.
Posted inEducation
DCF seeks independent review of children’s psychiatric hospital
Connecticut Department of Children and Families Commissioner Joette Katz said on Thursday she is seeking an independent review of the state-run psychiatric facility for children where a pregnant teenager hanged herself last month.
Posted inEducation
Parents oppose greater oversight of their home-schooled kids
Connecticut home-school advocates and parents on Wednesday called an ongoing Office of the Child Advocate investigation into home education discriminatory and an invasion of privacy. The OCA opened the investigation after an autistic home-schooled child died of neglect.
Posted inEducation
Child advocate finds some homeschooled kids subject to abuse, neglect
Connecticut doesn’t have a way to insure the safety or well-being of children withdrawn from school for homeschooling, the state’s Child Advocate Sarah Eagan told lawmakers Thursday.
Posted inEducation
Judge: Legislature’s rejection of DCF deal may lead court to act
Updated at 5:30 p.m.
BRIDGEPORT — After the state legislature rejected a settlement last week that would have brought the Department of Children and Families’ decades-long court oversight closer to an end, the federal judge presiding over the case said he may take matters into his own hands.
Posted inEducation
Long hours for many staff at juvenile jails
A heavy reliance on overtime at the state-run juvenile jails raises a number of questions, including whether it is cost-effective and whether it over-stresses staff, making them less effective in managing difficult situations with inmates.
Posted inEducation, Politics
Legislative hearings will probe conditions at state’s juvenile jails
Legislative hearings will be held to probe conditions and practices at the state’s jails for juvenile offenders after reports that they placed youths “at risk of physical and emotional harm.”
Posted inCT Viewpoints
In Connecticut juvenile justice, children get many second chances
A two-part series in the Connecticut Mirror this week asked the question of whether youth who break the law in Connecticut receive a second chance. It focused on the relatively small share of youth in the juvenile justice system who are placed in secure settings rather than the vast majority who receive services at home and in the community. What the article left out is that youths who are committed by Juvenile Court judges to the Department of Children and Families and placed at the Connecticut Juvenile Training School have received many second chances before that point.
Posted inEducation
CT Supreme Court to rule on order barring reporting of juvenile case
Can a Connecticut court bar publication of a news story when information from a confidential juvenile court proceeding makes its way to the media? That’s the question the Connecticut Supreme Court will answer after New Britain Superior Court Judge Stephen Frazzini last week ordered the Connecticut Law Tribune not to publish a story involving a child protection case before him.
Posted inEducation
New caseworkers expected to ease load on overworked DCF staff
Caseworkers for the Department of Children and Families have unreasonably high workloads and are looking for relief, which may come from the 81 new staff members stepping into their ranks, the department’s court-appointed overseer says.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Op-Ed: Connecticut’s DCF can do better for kids who ‘opt out’
Many young adults in Connecticut foster care decline to continue receiving services from a system they view as oppressive because they are desperate for freedom and family. The Department of Children and Families has better options than leaving them potentially homeless and unprepared for adult life.
Posted inNews
Op-Ed: Connecticut’s DCF can do better for kids who ‘opt out’
Many young adults in Connecticut foster care decline to continue receiving services from a system they view as oppressive because they are desperate for freedom and family. The Department of Children and Families has better options than leaving them potentially homeless and unprepared for adult life.