The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Lawmakers to question plan to end child welfare oversight
HARTFORD >> Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers say they have many questions about a revised agreement Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has said will forge a path toward ending decades of federal oversight of Connecticut’s child welfare agency.
The new exit plan, ordered by a federal judge in September, replaces a previous one filed in 2004. It reduces the number of goals the Department of Children and Families must meet from 22 to 10. It also sets a minimum annual budget of $801.2 million for the Department of Children and Families, which the General Assembly will not be able to change, while requiring an additional $6.4 million to be spent on the agency.
The legislature’s fiscal office said the state will likely have to find an extra $2 million in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, to accommodate that additional spending requirement.
“If we go with this, where is the end game? Does this mean that this goes on for three years with sort of a lock box around the budget, with the ability to go and ask for more money or what,” asked Rep. Toni Walker, the Democratic co-chairwoman of the legislature’s Appropriations Committee. “We need to know where is the savings in rushing us to do this settlement right now.”
“If we go with this, where is the end game? Does this mean that this goes on for three years with sort of a lock box around the budget, with the ability to go and ask for more money or what. We need to know where is the savings in rushing us to do this settlement right now.”
The committee has scheduled a public hearing and vote on the revised exit plan for Monday. It would then move to the Senate and House of Representatives. The revised plan would take effect next month unless it’s rejected by a three-fifths majority in each of the chambers.
It’s unclear how long this revised plan to exit federal oversight will take.
DCF’s federal oversight issues date to 1989, when a New York-based children’s advocacy group, Children’s Rights, filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of children in state custody or at risk of entering state custody in Connecticut. Commonly known as the Juan F. case, the lawsuit identified numerous problems, such as children being left in dangerous situations and the state’s failure to move children into adoptive homes.
In September, Malloy said “trends are moving in the right direction,” pointing out how the number of children in state care has been reduced and while the number of placements with relatives have increased.
Besides the exit plans’ potential “overreach into legislative prerogatives,” Rep. Melissa Ziobron, the ranking House Republican on the Appropriations Committee, said she questions whether DCF is ready for this step. The agency has received criticism from the state’s child advocate, including a scathing report in October about the abuse and near-starvation of a Groton toddler under the agency’s care. DCF Commissioner Joette Katz acknowledged the incident was “troubling and unacceptable.”
“I don’t think we can say everything is fine at DCF,” Ziobron said.
While his office did not negotiate the revised agreement, Attorney General George Jepsen said he supports it, given the “vital importance” of removing the agency from federal court supervision and restoring control of child protection to the state government.
“This settlement does not immediately end court oversight of DCF, but it creates an easier, clearer and fairer process to do so,” Jepsen said. Anthony Melillo (left) of the University of New Haven team, Bio Dock, is cheered on by his daughter, Michela (right), 11, and teammates during the Indoor Rowing Relay at Jordan’s Furniture in New Haven to raise money for the Canal Dock Boathouse on Jan. 21, 2017.