| Center for Children's Advocacy Instrumental in
Passage of Connecticut Homeless Youth Act
 Bringing a voice to the issues faced by homeless youth in Connecticut, the Center for Children's Advocacy, working closely with state and private partners, successfully advocated for passage of a bill to address the needs of this invisible population.
The Homeless Youth Act, passed as part of the budget (sections 28-30), is the first of its kind in Connecticut and follows the lead of Maine, New Jersey and other states which have implemented legislation aimed at providing critical services to homeless youth. Connecticut's legislation was written by Attorney Stacey Violante Cote, Director of the Center for Children's Advocacy's Teen Legal Advocacy Clinic, and the Connecticut Team on Runaway and Homeless Youth. The legislation was spearheaded in the legislature by Senator Anthony Musto, Co-Chair of the Select Committee on Children.
Prior to the passage of the CT Homeless Youth Act, Connecticut law did not reach a significant number of our runaway and homeless youth. There were laws and services in place to help youth through the Family with Service Needs process and limited services through the Youth in Crisis process. However, a significant portion of our youth who are without housing and support are those who are doubled up with relatives, those who are moving from one friend's house to another, adolescent boys who are not allowed into family shelters, or youth who have run away from DCF placements. Because there were not many places for runaway and homeless youth to go, they were difficult to identify and remained invisible.
Public Act 10-179, Sections 28-30 ("Homeless Youth Act") begins to address these problems, requiring the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to implement one or more of the following: begin public outreach, establish respite housing, establish transitional living services for youth who are homeless or at risk or homelessness. DCF must also submit a report to the legislature before February 2012, including key outcome indicators and benchmarks for evaluating progress. Significantly, in this time of fiscal crisis, the legislature funded the bill with 1 million dollars allocated from the DCF general fund.
For more information about the Connecticut Team on Runaway & Homeless Youth or about the Homeless Youth Act, please go to the Teen Legal Rights pages of our website or e-mail Stacey Violante Cote .
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CCA Collaboration Achieves Passage of Comprehensive Educational Stability Act for Children in Foster Care
 The Center for Children's Advocacy is proud to have collaborated with child welfare partners to write and help pass Public Act 10-160, an initiative that will ensure that abused or neglected children who are removed from their homes by DCF and placed in another town can remain in their home school if this serves their best interests.
Connecticut is a national leader of the movement to provide educational stability for youth in foster care. This vital legislation, passed with the support of the Governor's office, the State Department of Education and the Department of Children and Families, serves to implement the federal mandate, enacted in 2008 as part of the Fostering Connections to Success Act, that states have educational stability plans for all youth in care. Connecticut has just passed one of the most comprehensive educational stability entitlement statutes in the country. The new law provides for a presumption that staying in the home school is in the child's best interests. The child's lawyer will have the right to notification from DCF if the agency seeks to have the child change schools; if the decision is disputed, the child has the right to stay put in the home school while the issue is resolved.
This bill will help children who have suffered from abuse or neglect - and the trauma of removal from their homes - maintain permanent and critical ties with teachers, counselors, mentors and school friends. School may provide the most consistent and permanent relationships for many of these vulnerable children. Allowing children to maintain their educational placement will help ensure both emotional and academic stability. CCA is grateful to the state legislature and all of the child welfare partners who worked hard to put together this legislation and pass this landmark reform.
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2010 Justice Research Center Report: Families with Service Needs Evaluation Finds Demonstrated Program Success
CT Legislature Approves Funding for Additional Family Support Centers
 Families with children who engage in risky behaviors such as running away from home, school truancy, sexual activity and general disobedience of family rules often rely on state operated programs to help address these problems. Connecticut has defined such children and parents as Families with Service Needs (FWSN).
Public Act 05-250 was passed in 2005 and established that children in violation of FWSN orders could no longer be committed to secure detention facilities (beginning October, 2007). In 2006, P.A. 06-188 amended this legislation and created the Families with Service Needs Advisory Board, which was tasked with making recommendations to implement services for these youth. As a result, sweeping system changes were put in place regarding the handling of status offenders. The Judicial Branch Court Support Services Division received funds to implement four Family Support Centers (FSCs), a model developed to provide needed services and court diversion for FWSNs.
From 2007 to 2009, the state's FWSN system underwent a process and outcome evaluation conducted by the Florida-based Justice Research Center, which included review of the system's three primary objectives: (1) prevent children from entering the court system by encouraging positive, pro-social development, school attendance, family engagement and community-based programming; (2) intervene to divert at risk children from the court system; and, (3) provide evidence-based services to children who enter the court system. Because of the success found in the evalution of the FSC model, the FSWN Advisory Board, under the leadership of co-chairs Martha Stone, Esq, Executive Director of the Center for Children's Advocacy, and Preston Britner, PhD, Associate Professor & Associate Department Head for Graduate Studies, Department of Human Development & Family Studies at the University of Connecticut, pressed the legislature to fund additional Family Support Centers in other geographic locations. The legislature agreed and allocated funds for three additional centers in this last legislative term.
Justice Research Center 2010 Report
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Abandoned and Neglected 17 Year Olds Are Falling through the Cracks . . . CCA Files Two Appellate Court Appeals to Secure DCF Support
The Center for Children's Advocacy has filed two appeals seeking review and clarification of the rights of 17 year olds who file neglect petitions on their own behalf but turn 18 during the pendency of the proceedings.
In both of CCA's cases, the 17 year old clients reported that they were abandoned or neglected and living without a legal guardian who could meet their needs. CCA filed petitions on behalf of each youth, requesting that the juvenile court declare the youth was neglected and issue orders that would further each youth's best interests.
 In one case, the youth requested a retroactive commitment to DCF's care so that he would have access to much needed support services. In the other case, the youth sought an order transferring guardianship to a willing third party. However, the youths turned 18 before the neglect petitions could be resolved by the court.
In both cases, when the youth turned 18, the Department of Children and Families asked the court to dismiss petitions on the theory that the court does not have jurisdiction to entertain neglect petitions regarding youth who reach the age of majority. The motions to dismiss were granted in both cases and CCA appealed.
CCA will argue on appeal that 17 year olds who are neglected or abused must have access to the juvenile court and an opportunity to seek legal orders that protect their best interests. The Connecticut legislature requires that DCF provide a child protection system that can meet the needs of abused and neglected 16 and 17 year olds, and the law specifically states that concerned individuals have the right to file petitions with the juvenile court alleging that an abused or neglected 17 year old needs the court's help.
Petitions can sometimes take months to resolve as the court system works to ensure that every interested party, including parents, guardians and DCF, is identified and able to contribute to the case. An abused or neglected 17 year old must retain the right to have the court hear the case and issue orders that guard the youth's interests, otherwise the needs of this population cannot be met. Furthermore, the state will have little incentive to investigate allegations that a 17 year old is the victim of abuse or neglect because it would be unlikely that any resulting court action could be resolved prior to the youth's 18'th birthday.
Without DCF support, these vulnerable teenagers would remain invisible to child welfare professionals and the court, and their needs would go unheard and unaddressed as they turned 18 and drifted into the adult world, often in a state of crisis. The juvenile court is charged by the legislature to identify abused and neglected children and youth and ensure that their needs for safety and permanency are met. Whether the child in question is moments old or moments away from age 18 should not matter.
The cases are In re Jose B. A.C. # 31879 and In re Jessica M. A.C. # 32132.
CCA recently signed on to a "friend of the court" appellate brief on behalf of a psychiatrically disabled youth who was committed to DCF's care and custody shortly before his 18th birthday. The juvenile court then issued numerous orders directing DCF to provide ongoing mental health treatment and residential services to the youth. DCF appealed these orders contending that the juvenile court did not have authority to direct DCF to expend funds to service the youth, nor did the court have authority to issue any orders regarding the youth once he reached age 18.
This important case, In re Matthew F., is pending in the state Supreme Court and addresses the court's authority to issue orders on behalf of 18 year olds who have already been adjudicated neglected or abused and who need critical support services from the Department of Children and Families.
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Juan F. Class Action: CCA to File Amicus Brief in Support of Plaintiffs
Plaintiffs Claim DCF Again in Non-Compliance; DCF Counters with Motion to Dissolve Consent Decree
The Center for Children's Advocacy will file an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief supporting the plaintiffs in the Juan F. class action which resulted in a major overhaul of the DCF system. While there have been major improvements as a result of the Consent Decree approved by the Federal Court some 19 years ago,two major areas of compliance still remain elusive: treatment planning and meeting the medical, mental health and other needs of the children and youth in DCF care.
Based on the Court Monitor's reports, DCF has consistently failed in these specific areas, which are the linchpins of children's care. As a result, the plaintiffs have sent a formal letter of non-compliance/contempt to DCF. Upon Judge Alan Nevas' retirement from the federal bench, the case has been reassigned to U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Droney who will rule on plaintiff's claims if the negotiations are unsuccessful.
In addition, DCF, in an unusual twist, filed their own motion in federal court, claiming at the same time that they have been under court supervision long enough and want the consent decreee dissolved. CCA willl also be filing an amicus brief in opposition to DCF's Motion, for the reasons stated above relating to non-compliance. Any organization interested in signing these amicus briefs should contact Martha Stone or Sarah Eagan at the Center for Children's Advocacy.
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CCA's Open Courts Seminar Provokes Interesting Debate
On May 27, the Center for Children's Advocacy's KidsCounsel Seminar Series presented "Open Courts: Protecting Our Most Vulnerable Children by Allowing Public Access to the Juvenile Court." Connecticut's Open Court Pilot Project was created by 2009 legislation proposed by the Center for Children's Advocacy. The Open Court Pilot began in February of this year at the Child Protection Session in Middletown, allowing public and media access to trials that affect Connecticut's most vulnerable children.
The seminar panel included the Honorable Barbara Quinn, Chief Court Administator and Co-Chair of the Juvenile Access Pilot Program Advisory Board; Sarah Healy Eagan, JD, Co-Chair of the Juvenile Access Pilot Program Advisory Board and Director of the Center for Children's Advocacy's Child Abuse Project; Colin Poitras, Media Relations Associate, University of Connectict, and member of the Juvenile Access Pilot Program Committee; and Christina Ghio, JD, Private Practice Attorney, Child Abuse and Neglect, former Assistant Child Advocate, Office of the Child Advocate, and former member of the Juvenile Access Pilot Program Committee. The discussion was moderated by Martha Stone, JD, Executive Director of the Center for Children's Advocacy.
A CT-N video broadcast of the "Open Courts" seminar is available on our website, along with information and broadcasts of seminars conducted earlier this year.
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Collaborative & Innovative Project Builds Self Esteem, Teaching Teens in DCF Care to be Effective Self-Advocates
Legal Rights Organization and Arts-Based Group Work Together to Help DCF Teens
"Ring, ring!" says a teenage resident of New Hope Manor, holding an imaginary phone to her ear, tapping her foot impatiently to signify the passage of time. She had been asked to characterize her experience with her DCF worker. "She never answers the phone, " the girl explains. "It's just says, 'you have reached the voice mail...' so I hang up." "Oh, you can't hang up," another girl exclaims. "You need to leave a message. DCF is about sick of me. I leave a message. Then I call the supervisor, and I leave a message. If she don't call me back, I leave a message. And at the end of her message, " she continues without taking a breath, "there's her supervisor's number, the zone director or coordinator, or whoever. I leave them a message too. I tell them, this is Monique Harwood, and you can reach me at 860 - blah, blah, blah, and my problem is blahdy, blah. And I left a message for A, and I left a message for B, and now I'm calling you, so I would appreciate it if you could please call me back." Her assertion is supported by nodding heads. The moment feels ripe for an "Amen." It is clear that she is speaking the truth - both about the unanswered phones, and the need for persistence.
 In the fall of 2009, CCA attorneys Carmia N. Caesar and Stacey Violate Cote took part in an exciting collaboration between the Center for Children's Advocacy (CCA) and the Judy Dworin Dance Project (JDDP). The goal of the project was to reduce the risk of truancy and school behavior problems by teaching teen girls in DCF care about their legal rights and how to effectively advocate for themselves.
Caesar and Cote traveled to New Hope Manor and Stepping Stone, girls' residential facilities funded by the Department of Children and Families, to teach sixteen girls about their legal rights in the child protection system: educational access, medical and mental health care, visitation with family and support for their transition back to their communities. The girls shared moving stories about their challenges and frustrations, often because their rights had been violated or compromised. One girl felt she was forgotten by the system. Another said she was often tired and hungry. A third talked about breaking the cycle so her own children would not repeat the mistakes she had made.
For ten weeks, the girls worked with the JDPP staff to create a performance that exemplified their experiences as youth in DCF care. During several of these weeks, CCA attorneys helped the girls understand their legal rights, providing them with a sense of what they should expect in terms of treatment, education, and transition planning. They explained when rights derived from state and federal laws, and when rights were listed in the DCF Regulations, or policy manual. As the girls told their stories, they learned how their experiences were consistent - or inconsistent - with the letter and spirit of the law.
As themes emerged from the legal discussions, the artists from JDDP worked with the girls to draft a script that could be acted out with dance and percussion. Girls at each residential home worked separately, and then came together for a unified rehearsal just hours before the December 2009 performance at the Green Street Artists' Collective in Middletown. The audience witnessed a moving, gritty performance that demonstrated the profound challenges faced by youth in DCF care, as well as the obvious power they felt by being able to give voice and movement to their shared experiences. At the conclusion of the collaboration, staff at both facilities reported that relationships between staff and residents had improved, and that the girls were able to more effectively advocate for themselves, both within the facility and within the juvenile justice and child welfare systems.
Even more remarkable was the reporting by the girls themselves. While many had described feeling silenced and having negative or hopeless attitudes about themselves before the Speak Up! Project, they reported drastic changes afterwards. After the Project concluded, the girls reported feeling empowered, more confident and more educated. Not only did they have a better understanding of their legal rights, they emerged better able to navigate the complex systems in which they are involved and understood how to access the service providers who are able to help them.
The success of the project was measured by a series of focus groups and interviews with the girls, the artists, and staff from CCA. Findings were published in a report, "Speak Up: An Evaluation of A Community Collaborative Approach to Increase Self- Advocacy in Adolescent Girls, April 2010," by Susan Koski, Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Central Connecticut State University. This project was supported by an Institute for Municipal & Regional Policy (IMRP) grant awarded to the participating agency.
By all measures, the Speak Up! Project was a success. CCA and JDPP are searching for additional funding to repeat the program.
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Strengthening Truancy Prevention through Unique Collaborative Partnerships
The Center for Children's Advocacy's Truancy Court Prevention Project (TCPP) serves significantly truant eighth grade students in Hartford with a focus on improving attendance, grades and pro-social connections.
Students who participate in the TCPP receive individual case management from The Village for Families and Children, legal advocacy services from Center for Children's Advocacy attorneys, and informal court sessions with volunteer judges from Connecticut's Judicial System.
Participating judges include:
Honorable Steven F. Frazzini (Superior Court)
Honorable Edward J. Dolan (Superior Court)
Honorable Raymond R. Norko (Superior Court)
Honorable Douglas S. Lavine (Appellate Court)
Honorable F. Herbert Gruendel (Appellate Court)
 "My schedule doesn't allow me to take on just any volunteer opportunity. My deep respect for the partners in this collaborative project was what drove me to say yes to the Truancy Court Prevention Project. I admit I have wondered if my participation really makes a difference. But when I went to the graduation and saw the parents beaming with pride about their kids' progress, I realized how important this program has been to these families." Judge Raymond R. Norko, Truancy Court Prevention Project
(Photo and quote courtesy of The Tow Foundation. Photo by Richard Freed.)
For the 2010-2011 school year, the TCPP will work with 7th and 8th grade students at Milner and Burr Elementary Schools. The Center for Children's Advocacy intends to expand the TCPP to Bridgeport by the fall.
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CCA Utility Clinic Helps Low Income Families
CCA attorney Bonnie Roswig, who works with the Center's Medical Legal Partnership Project, organizes Utility Clinics a few times each year to help low income families maintain heat and hot water. The most recent clinic, held at the end of April at St. Francis Hospital, was a huge success, serving over 60 families. Attorneys and volunteers helped families avoid utility termination, enter into the special programs offered by the utility companies and discuss budget strategies so that they could successfully comply with utility payment agreements. In addition to the utility clinic volunteers who included attorneys, law students, medical residents, and nurses, participating organizations included Community Renewal Team, End Hunger Connecticut, Literacy Volunteers, Foodshare and HomeGoods (donated books for children of low-income families).
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Jessica Antunes Joins CCA
Jessica Antunes has joined the Center for Children's Advocacy as Community Liaison for CCA's Immigrants and Refugees: New Arrivals Advocacy Project, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. Jessica is working with new arrivals to the Hartford area to help them access educational and healthcare services and resolve some of the issues that make resettlement difficult for families new to this country.
Jessica received her B.A. in Child Study with a minor in Psychology from St. Joseph's College, and is presently completing her Masters in Community Counseling at St. Joseph's College. Jessica's past experience includes work with truant students, teen mothers, and children and youth in foster care. Please join us in welcoming Jessica to CCA.
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Quick Links
Reports and Articles
CCA attorneys author chapter in new book:
, Martha Stone, Esq, Executive Director, and Hannah Benton, Equal Justice America Fellow, Center for Children's Advocacy. American Bar Association, 2010, chapter 3. | |
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