Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen devastating images of children and families fleeing war and violence in Ukraine, seeking refuge in neighboring nations. It is an unimaginable prospect for these children, and one that is unfortunately all too common. Every day, in regions all across the world, violence, instability and poverty force children to […]
The U.S. is preparing for a potential spike in migrant children crossing the southern border without their parents, and has identified up to 19,000 beds at shelters and housing sites to prevent these minors from languishing in Border Patrol detention facilities, top Biden administration officials told CBS News. In interviews, Health and Human Services Secretary […]
There is no shortage of calls to reimagine legal and social systems and rethink the concept of safety in order to strengthen and empower communities as recognition of the detrimental effects of these systems on marginalized communities grows. As these calls draw every system in this country under a microscope, we must examine and dismantle […]
Last spring, Kaitlin Hess paused her day job as a scientist at the Environmental Protection Agency to answer the Biden administration’s call for volunteers at the border, where thousands of migrant children were arriving unaccompanied, without adult relatives to care for them. Hess, a 34-year-old who normally helps clean up hazardous waste sites, was deployed […]
Plaintiffs allege the state’s Medicaid program has caused young people with serious mental health conditions to suffer unnecessarily, ending up in hospitals and residential treatment programs because they can’t access vital services.
Attorney Samantha Bartosz talks about the long federal lawsuit meant to correct many failings of the Texas foster care system.
A federal judge formally released the Department of Children and Families from three decades of court oversight Thursday, concluding that Connecticut once again can be entrusted with the care of its most vulnerable children. “We are very excited to be able to say that today, in 2022, we are a very different agency than we […]
For more than 30 years, the Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF) has been operating under the watchful eye of a court monitor. Now, there is a big change for the state agency. State officials and a national children’s rights group celebrated a landmark settlement Thursday that frees the state from court oversight. “Today […]
Gov. Ned Lamont was joined by Attorney General William Tong and Department of Children and Families Commissioner Vanessa Dorantes Thursday afternoon to discuss the end to the consent decree imposed on DCF for more than three decades. The Juan F. Consent Decree stems from a 1991 settlement between the state and plaintiffs who alleged dangerous […]
After over three decades of federal court oversight, the Connecticut Department of Children and Families may see an end to the judicial arrangement. It was announced this week that the state and plaintiffs in the Juan F. consent decree filed a joint motion to end the oversight. “This is a big deal and a tremendous […]
