From 2013 to 2018, Connecticut lost 123 infants to sleep-related deaths alone, according to Child Advocate’s office. DCF is attempting to combat this problem.
DCF
Posted inJustice
Getting the dad involved, a new focus for DCF
Da’ee McKnight was in prison for his daughter’s entire childhood. Now he’s working to connect other dads with their kids.
Posted inHealth
Federal monitor’s report in DCF case shows continued concerns
The latest report from DCF’s federal monitor shows that the agency is still failing to meet half of the measures that are part of a court supervised exit plan – particularly those related to hiring and caseloads.
Posted inPolitics
Former DCF Commissioner Katz takes new job at Shipman & Goodwin
Joette Katz Joette Katz, the former commissioner of the Department of Children and Families and the former Connecticut Associate Supreme Court Justice, has taken a job with the prominent Hartford law firm, Shipman & Goodwin LLP. Katz, who served eight years as commissioner and almost two decades on the state Supreme Court, will work with […]
Posted inEducation
National search for DCF commissioner ends close to home
Vanessa Dorantes joined the Department of Children and Families nearly 27 years ago, one of the scores of social workers hired to bolster an understaffed DCF at the insistence of a federal court monitor. On Monday, she was nominated to lead that agency, which remains under the consent order that led to her hiring in 1992.
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
Final report on DCF under Malloy and Katz cites progress
Connecticut received Monday what is likely to be a federal overseer’s final assessment of the progress made by the Department of Children and Families during the tenure of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Commissioner Joette Katz, saying the state is closer than ever to ending nearly three decades of federal supervision. But not before the next governor takes office.
Posted inPolitics
Malloy’s fifth veto: The new DCF oversight bill
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy vetoed a measure Wednesday that would have created a new, legislature-controlled, oversight council for the Department of Children and Families, calling it “a significant intrusion by the legislative branch” in executive authority.
Posted inEducation, Justice, Money
DCF to hire 120 social workers to meet ‘Juan F.’ goals
The Department of Children and Families will be hiring 120 social workers to comply with an updated consent decree in the long-running Juan F. case, and the Malloy administration already has warned legislators it will need to spend $10 million more on the agency than is budgeted, the state’s top budget official said Thursday.
Posted inEducation
Judge simplifies path for DCF to end court oversight
A federal judge Wednesday ordered Connecticut to commit to certain staffing and caseload levels at the Department of Children and Families as a step toward ending the court’s quarter-century oversight of the agency under a consent decree. Unlike an exit plan rejected in February by the legislature, it does not shield the DCF from budget cuts.
Posted inEducation
Child advocate finds many lapses preceded death of Hartford youth
A 17-year-old Hartford youth with autism died from starvation, dehydration and child abuse in February, just weeks after the Department of Children and Families closed its case file on him, an investigative report released Tuesday by the state’s child advocate said. The report criticized several state agencies it said had not taken sufficient action, including DCF, the Hartford Public Schools and the juvenile court.
Posted inEducation
DCF reaching out to same-sex couples as adoptive parents
Connecticut’s governor and its commissioner of the Department of Children and Families, who played a role in legalizing gay marriage as a state Supreme Court justice in 2008, marked Adoption Awareness Month on Monday by highlighting the state’s outreach to same-sex couples as potential adoptive parents of children in foster care.
Posted inEducation
She’s aging out of DCF care, graduating college and beating the odds
Ashley Foster will soon be graduating from college, defying the odds against foster children. One in five leave the state’s care without having a high school diploma or GED, few have a college degree and the majority are unemployed. Many go on to become homeless or incarcerated shortly after they leave care – things Foster is determined to avoid. She sat down to talk with The Mirror at her apartment in East Haven as she braces for aging out of the Department of Children and Families’ care.
Posted inEducation, Money
Little progress reported on closing the state’s juvenile jail
It’s been more than a year since Gov. Malloy said he would close the state’s controversial jail for juvenile offenders. Legislators received an update this week on where that promise stands – and the administration has yet to recommend an alternative.
Posted inEducation, Justice
Legislators reject DCF settlement in ‘Juan F’ case
The General Assembly voted overwhelming Wednesday to reject a court settlement that would have charted a path for the state Department of Children and Families to end decades of federal court supervision and shield its $800 million budget from cuts.
