Dozens of people gathered outside Connecticut Juvenile Training School Thursday to protest state layoffs that cut about one-third of the facility’s staff last weekend, creating what one union official called a “potentially life-threatening situation” for those still remaining.
Joette Katz
Posted inEducation
Cutting DCF: Right-sizing or wrong-headed?
The Department of Children and Families says it has been able to absorb large budget cuts and better serve vulnerable children by placing more of them with family members and fewer with strangers in expensive group homes. But critics say the agency hasn’t been allowed to redirect enough of those savings into community support to improve outcomes. And more cuts loom.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Recognize or repurpose CT Juvenile Training School, don’t close it
Putting children’s needs first means using the Connecticut Juvenile Training School and the Walter G. Cady School as part of the toolbox. It appears that some, including those in positions of advocacy and legislation, would carelessly ignore the programs that are in place while trying to create a new and unfunded system.
Posted inEducation
Legislators press DCF on errors in child-risk assessment
Updated Feb. 5 at 4:10 p.m.
The Department of Children and Families faced intense scrutiny from state legislators Thursday morning for not identifying a number of high-risk child abuse cases, and several top officials acknowledged the department’s shortcomings and described steps that have been taken to improve.
Posted inEducation, Justice
Closing CT’s juvenile jail: Opportunities and obstacles ahead
With Connecticut’s controversial jail for young offenders slated to close within two-and-a-half years, state leaders have begun to contemplate what an alternative juvenile justice system should encompass.
Posted inEducation
A toddler dies, and the direction of a child welfare agency is tested
The debate over how to best protect children goes back decades, with advocates on one side arguing that keeping families together whenever possible is better for children. But others push back, saying that approach is applied too broadly and keeps children in dangerous environments.
Posted inEducation, Politics
Close juvenile jails? Legislators leave it up to the governor
Democratic legislators Tuesday retreated from a plan to move legislatively toward closing the controversial state-run jail for young offenders and decided to leave that decision up to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
Posted inEducation, Justice
Few disciplined over restraints, seclusion in juvenile jails
There were only two cases during the 12-month period ending June 30 in which the Department of Children and Families moved to discipline staff for improperly restraining a youth at the Connecticut Juvenile Training School for boys or the neighboring Pueblo Unit for girls.
Posted inEducation
Legislators press DCF: Do your juvenile jails work?
Fourteen months have passed since Jennie was violently taken down from behind as she walked from one end of the state-run jail for girls to the other. On Thursday, concerned lawmakers on the legislative panel that oversees juvenile justice wanted to know: Where is Jennie now, and how is she doing? And do the jails, which house juveniles convicted of a crime, improve their behavior after they leave?
Posted inEducation
DCF commissioner tells legislators: Don’t close juvenile jails
Under fire over questions about how youths are treated while incarcerated — and facing calls from advocates to close the state’s juvenile jails in Middletown — Department of Children and Families Commissioner Wednesday reaffirmed her commitment to keeping the locked facilities she runs open.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Call for DCF’s Katz to resign is about children, not politics
Recent reports concerning the Department of Children and Families, along with Commissioner Joette Katz’s long history of failure, misplaced priorities and lack of transparency and accountability, leave me with no confidence in her willingness or ability to openly and seriously confront critical issues within her agency. That’s why I felt compelled to call for her resignation.
Posted inEducation
Lawmakers split on DCF commissioner’s performance
Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano called Thursday for the resignation of Commissioner Joette Katz, but Malloy and Rep. Diana Urban, co-chair of the legislative committee which oversees the Department of Children and Families, defended her.
Posted inEducation
Watchdog: ‘Unlawful’ restraints, other failures in juvenile jails
The Office of the Child Advocate says in a new report that conditions at the state’s locked facilities for young juvenile offenders “place many youth at risk of physical and emotional harm.”
Posted inEducation
Expert: Progress made, more needed at jails for young offenders
An expert’s review of DCF’s locked facilities for juvenile offenders highlights the successes of a juvenile justice system that incarcerates fewer youth than 10 years ago, but also raises questions about the adequacy of mental health services provided for at-risk youths both in and outside of jail.
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.