Gov. Lamont signs DCF reform bill into law
Gov. Ned Lamont signed a sweeping Department of Children and Families (DCF) reform bill into law Thursday that aims to bring more transparency, accountability and support to the agency.
“Public Act 26-26 is a step in the right direction,” said Child Advocate Christina Ghio. “By creating a legislative oversight body, the Act establishes a framework for meaningful oversight of DCF.”
She said that elements of the bill, such as data collection and increased transparency, are critical because independent federal oversight of the agency ended in 2022.
The act comes as DCF continues to face scrutiny for numerous high-profile cases.
One case involves a 33-year-old man known as “S,” who says his stepmother held him captive for decades.
DCF found reports involving the case to be unsubstantiated 20 years ago. Attorneys now accuse the agency of withholding information about its investigations.
Another case involved 11-year-old Jaqueline Mimi Torres Garcia, who was allegedly killed by her mother, aunt and her mother’s boyfriend. According to testimony, a 22-year-old woman pretended to be Mimi during a prior DCF investigation.
In March, an Enfield 12-year-old was found dead. The cause and manner of death are pending. DCF told NBC Connecticut it had been investigating the family prior to the child’s death.
“Those tragedies have really resurfaced these systemic struggles that have plagued this agency for decades now,” said Emily Knox of Connecticut Voices for Children.
Generally, Public Act 26-26 aims to improve staffing efforts, create an online data dashboard, implement an oversight committee and add more requirements for abuse investigations and when a child is out of town for more than two weeks.
Supporters of the act, including Connecticut Voices for Children, said the bill is necessarily broad. Knox notes that since federally appointed oversight of DCF ended, there has been a decline in publicly available information.
“If they [DCF] are not well resourced, there’s really a tremendously vulnerable group of kids [who] really just have their needs continuously unmet,” Knox said.
Kate Dormont, a former foster parent who works in the child advocacy space, also testified in favor of the bill.
“All of our accountability structures that were formal in nature have kind of disappeared. So I appreciate that we’re kind of bringing that back into the conversation,” Dormont said.
Dormont said she has experienced a lack of consistency and accountability within the agency.
“I’m just concerned that we’re essentially formalizing and redoing some of the work that we’ve already done, instead of kind of pushing towards actual true accountability,” Dormont said. “A dashboard isn’t going to be helpful when you don’t actually have the data to populate it.”
Interim DCF Commissioner Susan Hamilton also testified about the bill back in March. She supported some parts, like increased transparency. But she noted that many proposals were already being done within the agency.
Hamilton now said in a statement that the bill signing “reinforced the commitment” of Lamont and lawmakers to provide “enhanced supports across the entire welfare system.”
“We look forward to working with our legislative partners and others as we implement these new changes and respond to the ever-evolving complexity of this work and improve outcomes for the children and families we collectively serve,” Hamilton said Thursday.
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