A new state blueprint for children’s mental health services recommends standardized screening and enhanced school services, better training for all caregivers and the “pooling” of hundreds of millions in public funds to more effectively finance vital programs.
DCF
Posted inEducation
Report: DCF must do better at tracking kids who ‘age out’
The Connecticut Department of Children and Families needs to do a better job of tracking children who age out of its care. Until that happens, a state report says, it is hard to gauge the effectiveness of its programs for seeing children into a productive adulthood.
Posted inEducation
Tragedy prompts call to raise awareness of ‘Safe Haven’ for CT infants
A coalition of state legislators, officials and child advocates pledged Tuesday to develop a new promotional campaign for Connecticut’s “Safe Haven” law in response to last week’s tragic discovery of an abandoned, dead infant in an East Hartford trash can.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Op-Ed: For Josh’s sake and Jane’s, can DCF listen to others?
The Connecticut Department of Children and Families should stop and listen to experts within and beyond our borders who are offering the help that Connecticut’s children need.
Posted inEducation
Op-Ed: For Josh’s sake and Jane’s, can DCF listen to others?
The Connecticut Department of Children and Families should stop and listen to experts within and beyond our borders who are offering the help that Connecticut’s children need.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Op-Ed: CHEER an important step… but Connecticut can do better
The Department of Children and Families’ new CHEER program is an important positive step toward improving outcomes for young people who would otherwise age out of the Connecticut foster care system. But the state can do better.
Posted inNews
Op-Ed: CHEER an important step… but Connecticut can do better
The Department of Children and Families’ new CHEER program is an important positive step toward improving outcomes for young people who would otherwise age out of the Connecticut foster care system. But the state can do better.
Posted inEducation
DCF finds placement for jailed transgender teen
The state Department of Children and Families said Thursday that “Jane Doe,” the 16-year-old transgender girl whose incarceration has become a national civil-rights issue, has been tentatively placed in a secure residential treatment facility in Massachusetts.
Posted inEducation
The Basics: A bill to get names removed from CT’s child abuse registry
With more than 90,000 people listed on the state’s child abuse and neglect registry for allegations made against them at least 14 years ago, the state may finally ease the process for people to get their name removed.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Op-ed: An open letter to DCF Commissioner Katz
Children need champions, especially children who have lost their family connections.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Op-ed: Connecticut’s leadership on juvenile justice in jeopardy
What’s going on? Connecticut has been a national leader in juvenile justice policy, but all of a sudden, it’s in danger of losing its crown.
Posted inEducation, Politics
A Connecticut teen, a new UConn union, and money talk$
The story of “Jane Doe,” the transgender teenager who has never been charged with a crime being sent to the Connecticut adult women’s prison, burned a path through the week of legislative and political news.
Posted inEducation
Transgender CT teen writes court of her living conditions in prison
Since being sent to live in an adult jail eight days ago, 16-year-old Jane has spent 22 to 23 hours a day in her prison cell.
Posted inEducation
Advocates seek investigation into DCF treatment of court-involved youth
Child advocates are calling on Connecticut lawmakers to set up a special panel to investigate the treatment of children committed to the care of the Department of Children and Families for breaking the law.
Posted inEducation
Questions (and answers) about CT’s new girls’ incarceration unit
“There are girls that really very easily can fill these 10 beds,” said Joette Katz, commissioner of the state Department of Children and Families.