January 28, 2026
The Center for Children’s Advocacy, a statewide legal rights organization dedicated to individual and systemic advocacy on behalf of low-income and vulnerable children, successfully resolved a systemic legal complaint against New Haven Public Schools on behalf of multiple children, many with profound disabilities, who were denied access to special education teaching and services during this school year.
State education officials investigating CCA’s complaint found that the children were contained in a classroom without a special education teacher for the majority of each school day and denied speech and language services they needed to support their communication. CCA attorneys alleged that due to the lack of staffing, children in the classroom were denied their right to an education, did not meet educational goals, and were not provided support with basic daily living needs like toileting and hygiene, jeopardizing their health. Some children, dependent on adult support, came home in wet, soiled pull ups, and with no records to support how they were being cared for by staff. State officials directed systemic corrective action, including compensatory education services, training for special education staff and administration, compensatory speech and language services for more than 40 students, and state-monitored efforts to fill special education staffing vacancies. The District was also ordered to assign a full time BCBA to the students’ classroom for the remainder of the academic year to support the students. All corrective action activities will be followed by state education investigators and the Center for Children’s Advocacy.
CCA recognizes that statewide funding challenges directly impede the ability of local administrators to support children and staff. CCA will continue to advocate for individual and systemic remedies to improve state education funding and enforce the legal rights of the state’s most vulnerable children.
About The Center for Children’s Advocacy
The Center for Children’s Advocacy is New England’s largest children’s legal rights organization. It was founded in 1997 on a $2,000 budget, in loaned office space over the boiler room at UConn Law School. In the 28 years since, CCA has grown to an organization with 25 staff and a $3 million operating budget. CCA now has offices in Hartford, New Haven, and Bridgeport, and also serves children in Waterbury, Stamford, and Norwalk.
For more information, please contact:
Maggie Prendergast
Director of Development
o: 860-570-5327 x231
c: 860-216-7522
mprendergast@cca-ct.org
