|
Important . . .
Center Releases New Legal Rights Publications
Now Available
Immigration Law in the Medical Setting
This new publication, written by the Center's legal staff, assists healthcare providers who work with the state's immigrant and refugee population. This important guide covers legal issues regarding healthcare and benefits eligibility and includes case scenarios/legal dilemmas often encountered by healthcare providers. To order, go to www.kidscounsel.org or call 860-570-5327.
Your Legal Rights in Detention
For youth in juvenile detention, this newly updated book outlines their legal rights and the responsibilities of the Detention Center and others to keep them safe and secure. Written by the Center's attorneys and published by the CT Judicial Dept's CSSD, the book is now available at www.kidscounsel.org
Teen Legal Rights Series
CCA's Teen Legal Rights series is written for youth and for the attorneys and advocates who work with them. Can I Get My Record Erased? is a new publication in the series. Many topics have been recently updated to reflect changes in the law, and are available at www.kidscounsel.org
To order publications
call 860-570-5327 or go to www.kidscounsel.org
| | |
|
|
Daily Double?
Your support means twice as much right now.
Give now and your donation will be matched dollar for dollar by a generous anonymous donor.
GIVE NOW
| | |
|
|
|
Spring for Kids
Annual Fundraiser Honors 2011 Center for Children's Advocacy Champion of Children Award Recipients
In April, the Center for Children's Advocacy celebrated the accomplishments of our organization and paid tribute to our 2011 Champions of Children.
Pictured above are this year's Champion of Children Award recipients, from left: Ann Taylor, Sr. VP and General Counsel, Connecticut Children's Medical Center; Senator Toni Harp; Bill Carbone, Executive Director, CT Judicial Dept.Court Support Services Division, with Kathryn Carbone; Representative Toni Walker.
All were inspired by our youth ambassadors and speakers. Below, CCA Attorney Stacey Violante Cote shares a moment with client Jenille after Jenille's moving presentation.
Nearly 200 people turned out to share in the celebration. Our sincere thanks to the sponsors and attendees for their support in making the event a success! The energy in the room was fueled with the passion for helping Connecticut's most vulnerable children: every child, no matter the circumstances, deserves justice, equity and access. It was a night to remember!
Click to see all the photos from this wonderful evening.
|
|
|
Center for Children's Advocacy Achieves Phenomenal Success in Passage of Five New Bills that Protect Connecticut's Children
Center for Children's Advocacy attorneys wrote and secured passage of five new bills which directly improve the lives of Connecticut's most vulnerable children. Additional information on each bill is linked through our state legislative page at www.kidscounsel.org.
Child Welfare
Public Act 11-116: Increase Kinship Care for Abused and Neglected Children
Placing an abused or neglected child with relatives can greatly ease the trauma a child suffers when removed from home. Connecticut's kinship care rate lags far below the national average. This legislation requires DCF to take several steps to increase the number of abused and neglected children placed in relative foster care. Effective October 1, 2011.
Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking
Public Act 11-180: Require Law Enforcement to Report Youth Arrested for Prostitution to DCF
Within 48 hours of leaving home, one in three youth are lured into prostitution (domestic minor sex trafficking). Law enforcement is the most likely entity to come into contact with these victims and DCF is best suited to provide help. This law requires DCF to conduct child abuse or neglect investigations of youth who get arrested on prostitution charges. Effective October 1, 2011.
Juvenile Justice/Education
Public Act 11-115: An Act Concerning Juvenile Reentry and Education
Youth released from the juvenile justice or criminal justice system face numerous barriers to successful return to school and community. This legislation addresses the refusal of school districts to promptly enroll students upon their return, and credits students for instruction completed while in juvenile justice placements. Effective July 1, 2011.
Public Act 11-154: An Act Concerning Detention of Children and Disproportionate Minority Contact in the Juvenile Justice System
Disproportionate minority contact (DMC) in Connecticut's juvenile justice system has persisted for decades. Youth of color are more likely to enter and progress further through the juvenile justice system than their white peers. This legislation requires a court order before a child can be sent to detention, a practice that has proven effective in eliminating DMC at the point of entry to detention, and requires state agencies to report on plans and progress to reduce DMC. Sec.1 effective October 1, 2011; Sec. 2 effective upon passage.
Public Act 11-136: An Act Concerning Revisions to the Education Statutes
When a child is truant, there is often no action taken until attendance issues are at a critical stage, making it difficult to re-engage a struggling child in school, particularly where the child suffers from undiagnosed or unrecognized mental health or educational disabilities. This legislation requires schools to file "Families With Service Needs" Petitions within fifteen days of a parent's failure to cooperate with school efforts to address a truancy issue. Sec.16(a-e), effective July 1, 2011.
Center's Advocacy Helps Secure Passage of Two Additional Bills
Health
Public Act 11-80: Establish Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and Planning for Connecticut's Energy Future
This legislation creates a new category of utility protection for Connecticut's youngest and most vulnerable citizens. Under the new law, if a child under 24 months of age is about to be discharged from the hospital, and the household is threatened with utility termination, the physician can complete a certification stating that the health and well-being of the child is in jeopardy if the utilities are terminated. This protection is part of this session's sweeping reform of utility law in Connecticut. Effective July 1, 2011.
Child Welfare
Public Act 11-51: Increase Public Access to Juvenile Courts
While child abuse and neglect proceedings have historically been closed, there is increasing recognition that shedding light on the child welfare system and the needs of families and children can lead to increased system accountability and improved outcomes for children. This legislation permits individuals or entities, including the media, who have a legitimate interest in a child welfare hearing or the work of the court, to observe the court hearing. The legislation allows the court to prohibit any disclosure of identifying information regarding the child, his caretakers or family. Effective July 1, 2011.
For more information on recent legislation, please go to the recent state legislation page of kidscounsel.org
|
Center for Children's Advocacy Seminar Series: June, 2011
Preserving Families: How to Access Support Services for Parent's Mental Health or Disability Issues
Standing-room-only crowd appreciated the information shared by (from left): Anne Louise Blanchard, Litigation Director, Connecticut Legal Services; Susan Walkama, President and CEO, Wheeler Clinic; Sarah Eagan, Director, Child Abuse Project, Center for Children's Advocacy; Jamie LeHane, Regional Behavioral Health Director, DCF.
Click for videotaped seminar presentation and the archive of this year's seminars, including resource materials. CCA's seminar series will resume September, 2011.
|
|
Jason's academic struggles began long before the day he was arrested at school for a fight in the cafeteria.
Jason is only 13 years old, but he has a long history of academic failure. In the 2009-2010 school year, he accrued over 60 unverified absences and over 50 days of outside-school suspension. He lost over half the year of education.
 Despite an early diagnosis of depressive disorder, difficulty controlling his anger, and a long history of academic failure, Jason had never been evaluated for special education.
Teacher reports continually noted severe behavior problems. Jason's grades reflected his struggles, revealing significantly below grade level performance in every subject.
The school had a legal obligation to refer Jason to special education - his academic performance was consistently unacceptable, and he had severe attendance and behavior issues - but no evaluations were done . . .
Read Jason's story.
|
|
Center Attorneys Advocate to Stop "Pushout" of Bridgeport Students into Inappropriate Alternative Education Programs
Alternative school programs can be an appropriate option for students who prefer to complete their education in a non-traditional setting. But for many students, Bridgeport schools have violated state law by dictating alternative placements without presenting available options to the student and his/her family.
Connecticut law requires that a PPT (Planning and Placement Team meeting) occur before a student's placement is determined. Working with several teen clients in Bridgeport, attorneys from the Center's Teen Legal Advocacy Clinic learned that students were routinely being placed in alternative programs without the required PPT.
 For Jessica, a Harding High School special education student, the school mandated her transfer to the District's Alternative Day program. Jessica's mother was called by a school administrator and informed of the school's decision. Although she asked for a PPT - and was told that one would be scheduled - six weeks went by before Jessica's mother was able to gain adequate information . . . Read about the Center's interventions to stop Bridgeport's pushouts.
|
|
Disproportionate Minority Contact:
Center for Children's Advocacy Awarded National Grant to Reduce DMC and "School-to-Prison Pipeline"
 Connecticut's juvenile justice system consistently has one of the nation's worst rates of Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC). Youth of color enter and progress further through the juvenile justice system than their white peers, even when controlling for other factors. Because Connecticut also has the worst school achievement gap in the country and youth of color are disproportionately suspended and expelled, these factors combine to create a school-to-prison pipeline that pushes youth of color out of the education system and into the juvenile justice system.
Through its Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee (JJAC), Connecticut's Office of Policy and Management commissioned three studies of DMC in Connecticut, published in 1995, 2001 and 2009. Despite more than 15 years of attempts to reduce DMC, the most recent study found that DMC continues to be a significant problem. More troubling, the 2009 study also found that DMC occurs at decision points where it did not in the earlier studies or where it had been eliminated in the 2001 study.
The 2009 report found that, controlling for other factors, Connecticut's Black and Latino youth were more likely than their white peers to be:
- referred to court rather than a community agency;
- brought to detention;
- held in detention prior to adjudication;
- transferred to adult court; and
- sent to a secure juvenile justice facility post-adjudication.1
Although the JJAC issued recommendations to reduce DMC in these reports, few substantive systemic reforms have been made.
To address this continued disparity, the Center for Children's Advocacy (CCA) was recently awarded a grant by the Public Welfare Foundation in Washington, D.C. to partner with the Center for Children's Law and Policy (CCLP). CCLP administers the Disproportionate Minority Contact Action Network of the MacArthur Foundation, helping participating sites identify and implement innovative solutions to DMC. CCLP will bring this experience and expertise to the project, providing data analysis and technical assistance regarding data collection and the development of potential solutions.
Using an approach that has proven effective in other parts of the country, CCA and CCLP will work with the Hartford and Bridgeport Local Implementation Service Teams (LISTs) to engage juvenile justice stakeholders in DMC reduction. By analyzing local data to identify specific decision points where DMC occurs, CCA and CCLP will be able to help Hartford and Bridgeport develop interventions targeted to reduce racial and ethnic disparities. CCLP's national work has shown that a deeper data analysis on the local level can illuminate site-specific strategies for DMC reduction which are more likely to produce expeditious results than strategies suggested by statewide data.
As part of this initiative, the Center was able to secure passage of legislation to implement proven-effective recommendations of the statewide DMC studies, focusing on requiring a court order prior to detention and accountability reporting by state agencies. Please see the state legislative page at www.kidscounsel.org for a complete update on the Center's legislative activity.
|
|
A panicked call from the hospital's pediatric floor came in to the Center's on-site Medical Legal Partnership office. Five-year-old Taylor was about to be discharged to a home without electricity.
 Taylor was medically fragile and had been hospitalized frequently throughout her young life. Taylor's mother was not able to pay her electric bill because Taylor's intensive medical needs had led to a decision to leave her job. She had recently paid some of the bill, but it was not enough to prevent termination.
Utilities are protected if an individual has a life threatening condition. But Taylor's medical providers felt that her medical condition, while significant, did not rise to the level of "life threatening." They did not feel that the absence of heat or electricity would put her life at risk.
Stories like Taylor's are told too frequently in medical centers throughout Connecticut. Frantic parents with small children face the crisis of utility termination because limited household income never seems to stretch far enough. Medical providers, while empathetic to the plight of their patients, appreciate that they can only approve "medical protection" if the child's life is truly at risk without heat or electricity.
Center's Legislative Advocacy Helps Secure Utility Protection
The Center's legislative advocacy helped secure the recent passage of Public Act 11-80, which creates a new category of utility protection for Connecticut's youngest and most vulnerable citizens. Under the new law, if a child under 24 months of age is about to be discharged from the hospital, and the household is threatened with utility termination, the physician can complete a certification stating that the health and well-being of the child is in jeopardy if the utilities are terminated. This protection is part of this session's sweeping reform of utility law in Connecticut.
CCA Utility Clinics "Keep the Power On." CCA's Medical Legal Partnership helps families avoid crisis by holding "Keep the Power On" utility clinics each year. The spring clinic was held on May 13, 2011 at Connecticut Children's Medical Center and offered important benefits for the families who attended:
- Assured that families are not left without heat or electicity
- Helped access Northeast Utilities programs for low income families
- Reviewed household budgets to secure Northeast Utility's programs
- Provided budgeting advice, strategies, and information about other community services
The recent clinic helped 60 families and 110 children avoid utility termination. Families received assistance from pro bono volunteers from Connecticut Children's Medical Center, The Aetna, University of Connecticut School of Law and other members of the community. Volunteers brought donations to the clinic's literacy center so each child could take home a new book. The generosity of local merchants assured that no one would be hungry while waiting to obtain assistance - A Little Something Bakery of West Hartford, Panera of West Hartford and Stew Leonard's of Newington generously provided refreshments.
Northeast Utilities has been an essential partner in the Center's Utility Clinics, and this year the Hartford Charitable Foundation provided generous financial support.
Plans are underway to schedule 2011-2012 fall and spring clinics in Hartford and to expand our efforts to other portions of the state. If you would like to volunteer or contribute to these clinics, please contact Center for Children's Advocacy attorney Bonnie Roswig at broswig@ccmckids.org
|
|
|
|
|
