Statement from the Center for Children’s Advocacy on the Public Letter of Concern from the Connecticut Office of the Child Advocate

Yesterday’s public letter of concern from the state Office of the Child Advocate (OCA) provides shocking information regarding the death of a child within an hour of the child meeting with staff from the Department of Children and Families and asking for help. The child’s family was the subject of a DCF investigation and, according to the OCA, the family had a “lengthy DCF history” and “none of the children were enrolled in school.” The OCA expressed “alarm” about the facts preceding this child’s death, and “increasing alarm” about the quality of DCF’s work. The Center for Children’s Advocacy (CCA) represents children who have experienced abuse or neglect every day, and we see their desperation—for a stable home, for return to a beloved caregiver, for safety. The terrible drumbeat of reported concerns about the state’s current capacity to protect and support these children—from the federal and state overseers, lawyers for children, foster parents, and DCF staff themselves—compels urgent action from state leaders. Immediate measures must be taken to address DCF workforce gaps, support foster parents and social workers, and enable and empower community human service providers and lawyers to engage and serve children and families most in need of help. Important legislation pending now is a first step: “AN ACT CONCERNING CHILD WELFARE ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY.”  Every week, CCA provides legal advocacy for children and families in crisis. We cannot normalize the conditions these children are facing. The OCA’s public letter today about the implications of yet another child’s tragic death must be heard not as an administrative indictment of a state agency, but as an emergency call to collective action.

STATE OF CONNECTICUT