Salem child’s fentanyl death prompts calls for mandatory DCF worker in-home visits
Connecticut legislators want to require the state Department of Children and Families to make in-person home visits after the fentanyl poisoning death of a toddler who died one day before a caseworker was scheduled to arrive.
The proposed bill would require DCF case workers to conduct in-home visits for families with children under the age of 6 or if the child is 6 or over but isn’t enrolled in school or being educated at home. The proposal would also require DCF workers to evaluate homes in-person where a child in the custody of the agency has been placed or when the previous visit was done virtually.
The death of a 13-monthold Salem child in February 2022 played a role in her decision to suggest the bill, said state Rep. Liz Linehan, D-Cheshire, co-chairwoman of the legislature’s Committee on Children.
But it wasn’t a “singular moment” for Linehan, who said she had been considering how DCF home visits were being handled during the pandemic. “There was a system of checks and balances that almost went away,” Linehan said.
“This is not an attack on DCF workers,” Linehan said. “As a legislator, I want to clarify and support the good work they do. This bill will support them and leave no ambiguity.”
The Salem baby died of fentanyl poisoning on Feb. 8, 2022 — one day before a DCF caseworker was scheduled to visit the home after the family failed to engage in a planned virtual visit on Feb. 2, according to court documents and agency officials. DCF officials have not provided a timeline of when the last in-person visit occurred before the child died.
Connecticut State Police said the child was living in “deplorable” conditions with the home laden with empty drug baggies, Methadone bottles, food waste covered in flies, 38 baggies containing an unknown powder substance that later tested positive for fentanyl and a trash bin with multiple Captain Morgan whiskey “nips” bottles in the room where the baby was sleeping.
The child’s parents, Travis Schubel and Ricki Thomas, are being held on bond after they were each charged in late 2022 with second-degree manslaughter, risk of injury to a child, illegal possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Schubel had multiple pending court cases involving drug use and driving while impaired and was receiving Methadone drug treatment when the baby died, court records show.
The baby is among eight infants or toddlers who have died from fentanyl poisoning in Connecticut since 2020, records show. The children who died were all 2 1/2 and younger, according to state Child Advocate Sarah Eagan.
Her office is now investigating the Salem death along with other “systemic” issues regarding DCF’s safety planning practices meant to ensure children are not harmed while remaining with their families.
She has called DCF’s safety planning with the Salem family “deficient” while pointing out that Schubel was not supposed to be left alone with the children in the house, which Eagan said was unrealistic for a family in crisis.
DCF was notified of each of the eight infant fentanyl deaths and has since reviewed their practices, updating how caseworkers handle parents who have substance abuse issues, especially addiction to fentanyl, which even in minuscule amounts can kill a child, agency officials said.
“We are supportive of the law,” said Ken Mysogland, spokesman for DCF. “We don’t oppose this bill. We know the best way to fully support families is with in-person, faceto-face visits.”
Like most state workers, DCF employees are allowed to telework four days a week. But Mysogland said case workers who are doing telework start and end their day at home, but they can do in-home visits during work hours. The agency has been “fully operational” with home visits since May 2021, Mysogland said. But there was a period in December 2022 when COVID-19 case numbers increased, leading to more virtual visits, he said.
“We are now fully operational,” Mysogland said.
Eagan testified Thursday before the Committee on Children in support of the bill.
“I spoke with Representative Linehan before the session about general issues, including the inadequacies of virtual engagement for a family that is high risk,” Eagan said Friday.
“In regards to work in a post-COVID world, I think it’s important to have clarity,” Eagan said. “I said during my testimony that there is no substitute for in-person assessment. I think you can do supplemental contact with a family virtually but not in lieu of in-home assessments.”
Eagan is recommending changes to the bill, including requiring DCF to do in-person visits when the agency is conducting an investigation, when a family is determined to be moderate or high risk, for cases that involve children in group homes, foster care or other residential treatment centers and in any case that a child is non-verbal, nonschool age or whose ability to communicate is impaired by a disability.
Linehan said Eagan’s recommendations would be incorporated into the bill and then the proposed legislation will be voted on by the entire committee in the coming weeks.