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CT Law Tribune 'State
Has Been Shortsighted'
Advocate says more programs needed to help
at-risk youth
February 18, 2008
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CCA
& Hospital of Central Connecticut Receive Grant to Expand MLPP
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New Attorney Joins
CCA: Bonnie
Roswig joins MLPP
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Changing
the Judiciary's Relaltionship with a Community, One Child at
a Time
ABA Judges' Journal
Summer 2007
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OCR
Complaint (PDF)
Complaint filed on behalf of limited-English proficient ("LEP")
students enrolled in the Hartford Public School District ("the
District") in Hartford, CT and their parents. The LEP students
and their parents that this complaint refers to are Somali-Bantu,
Liberian, and Spanish-speaking.
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Foster
Care Population: Minority Kids In Majority
Hartford Courant
August 13, 2007
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Raising the Age for Juvenile Court Jurisdiction
(Budget implementer: Public Act No. 07-4)
Beginning January 1, 2010, 16 and 17 year olds
may have their charged offenses adjudicated in juvenile court.
Juvenile cases involving serious felonies will still be automatically
transferred to adult criminal court and prosecutors may still
ask the juvenile court judge to transfer other cases to adult
court.
The “raise the age” initiative will eliminate
the “Youth In Crisis” program for 16 and 17 years olds charged
with status offenses. Instead, these youth will be eligible
for the Families With Service Needs program.
EFFECTIVE DATE: January 1, 2010
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Complaint:
Immigrants Ill-Served In City Schools
Hartford Courant
May 31, 2007
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Justice
for Troubled Teens
Hartford Courant
May 31, 2007
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Paralegal
with Medical-Legal Partnership Project
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A
Teenage Girl Waits In A Shelter
Hartford Courant
May 29, 2007
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The Truancy
Epidemic: Officials In City Struggle To Curb Chronic Absenteeism
Hartford Courant
May 14, 2007
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Turning 18,
And Needing Our Help
Hartford Courant
May 5, 2007
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Part-Time
Attorney Position, Teen Legal Advocacy Clinic
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New
Option For Troubled Kids
Hartford Courant
March 5, 2007
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US Census Report
Released Jan 2007
A Child's
Day
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With
Every Passing Day
Hartford Courant
December 10, 2006
Children who learn in classrooms with white,
black, brown and yellow faces are best prepared for the real
world where, with luck, they will encounter diversity in the
workplace. It is common sense that children who interact with
peers from different backgrounds will grow up with fewer prejudices
and be more likely to get along in a multicultural society.
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Crime,
Violence, Discipline and Safety in U.S. Public Schools (PDF)
Findings from the School Survey on Crime and Safety, 2003-2004
Released December 2006
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Standards
of Practice for Child Protection Attorneys Practicing in Juvenile
Matters
Pursuant to C.G.S 46b-123c(3) the Commission
on Child Protection issued Standards of Practice to be used
by attorneys as a guide to providing competent and zealous advocacy
for their clients.
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Panel: Despite
Sheff v. O’Neill, school segregation has not eased
by Richard Veilleux - November 28, 2006
Ellen Ash Peters, the retired chief justice
of the Connecticut Supreme Court and author of the 1996 Sheff
v. O'Neill ruling that racial isolation in Hartford's schools
was unconstitutional, let more than 100 people attending a symposium
on the ruling in on a little secret: The court purposely left
it up to the state legislature to implement change.
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November
2, 2006 Memo from the Hartford
School System's Assistant Superintendent for Special Education
Services indicating that asking a parent to pick up a child
at school because of a behavioral incident is to be considered
a school suspension.
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"Bureau Blogs" Produced
by the CT State Dept. of Education's Bureau of Special Education,
the blog consolidates, in a monthly format, the information
and requests that schools receive from the Bureau of Special
Education. To access the blogs, view PDF's below or go the Bureau's
website.
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SES
Tutoring Request Form (PDF)
The Supplemental Educational Services (SES)
program is part of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001.
Through the SES program, parents can get free tutoring services
for their children. These services provide extra help in academic
subjects, such as reading, language arts, and mathematics, to
students who may be struggling in school. These services are
typically delivered outside the regular school day-before or
after school on weekends or during the summer months. This tutoring
must be in line with state academic standards and connected
to the school district's instructional program. Eligible families
choose an SES provider from a list developed by their state.
School districts pay providers directly for services. The SES
program encourages states to approve a variety of organizations
as SES providers, thus giving students and families the largest
possible range of quality options.
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For
Local Heroes, A Day To Take A Bow
November 10 2006
Martha Stone wins Local Heroes Award
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Impact
of Foster Care Placement on Child Development (PDF)
An important recent study conducted by researchers
at the University of Minnesota, and published in the journal
Development and Psychopathology, demonstrates the harmful impact
of foster-care placement on child development.
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The Superior Court for Juvenile Matters
has Posted a Standing Order
The Superior Court for Juvenile Matters has
post a standing order concerning notification "of all court
proceedings concerning any child in foster care to foster parents,
relative caregivers and pre-adoptive parents of such children".
For more information you may go to http://www.jud.ct.gov/external/super/Standorders/Juvenile/fostercare.htm.
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CCA Seminar
The Center for Children's Advocacy will offer a seminar in Bridgeport
on Thursday, November 30, from 1:30 - 3:15 pm at the Child Guidance
Center of Greater Bridgeport.
Entitled, "What's
New? What's in the Pipeline?" this seminar will repeat
recent presentations held in Hartford. Speakers will be:
Darlene Dunbar, Commissioner, Department of Children
and Families
Bill Carbone, Executive Director, Judicial Branch Court
Support Services Division
Carolyn Signorelli, Chief Child Protection Attorney,
Child Protection Commission
Honorable Barbara Quinn, Chief Administrative Judge,
Superior Court for Juvenile Matters
If you would like to attend this seminar, please reserve a space
by emailing: atremont@kidscounsel.org
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DCF Adolescent Policy Changes and Additions
(Word
Document)
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In
re Davonta V. (October 10, 2006)
Connecticut Appellate Court
Abuse and Neglect: ...the
Appellate Court affirmed the trial court's decision to terminate
a mother's parental rights on the grounds that the mother failed
to achieve a reasonable degree of rehabilitation and termination
of parental rights was in the child's best interest.
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(September 30, 2006)
U.S. District Court
Civil Rights, Education: In an interesting federal special
education decision, the United States District Court, District
of Connecticut, awarded plaintiff over $93,000 in attorney's
fees for a successful administrative hearing decision garnered
through a Due Process procedure.
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Conn.
Office of Prot. and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities v.
Hartford Bd. Of Educ.
(September 15, 2006)
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals
Education: The Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed
the District Court's judgment which entered a permanent injunction
against the Hartford Board of Education in the case of Protection
& Advocacy v. Hartford Bd. of Educ. This is the case where
the state office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons with
Disabilities (P&A) brought suit against the Hartford Board of
Educ. ("HBOE") requesting access to the HBOE's controversial
Hartford Transitional Learning Academy ("HTLA") to (1) observe
programs and speak with students and (2) give P&A a directory
of HTLA students and contact information for their parents/guardians
to investigate allegations of abuse and neglect at the school.
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October 2006
KidsCounsel Newsletter Abobe
PDF
Sheff: Ten Year Anniversary; CCA Welcomes
Nina Aasen, Director, TeamChild Project; Two New Task Forces
Work to Resolve Issue of Open Courts...
- Joint Juvenile Justice Strategic Plan
- Medical Insurance Coverage and Public
Benefits:
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Reginald H
Judge: DCF
Misled Court On The Law
http://www.ctlawtribune.com
If the state attempts
to terminate parental rights, it isn't entitled to eliminate
doctor-patient privilege to make its job easier.
That's the conclusion
of Judge Stuart David Bear, who, in an Aug. 25 decision, ordered
the state Department Of Children and Families to stop trumpeting
stale law regarding privileged treatment files.
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HTLA Access Affirmed
On Friday (9/15), the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed
the District Court's judgment which entered a permanent injunction
against the Hartford Board of Education in the case of Protection
& Advocacy v. Hartford Bd. of Educ. This is the case where
the state office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons with
Disabilities (P&A) brought suit against the Hartford Board of
Educ. ("HBOE") requesting access to the HBOE's controversial
Hartford Transitional Learning Academy ("HTLA") to (1) observe
programs and speak with students and (2) give P&A a directory
of HTLA students and contact information for their parents/guardians
to investigate allegations of abuse and neglect at the school.
In a lengthy decision issued in February 2005, the District
Court declared that defendants' refusal to provide the agency
with physical access to the facility when students were present
and with name and contact information for parents and legal
guardians of the facility's students violated the Protection
and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness Act (PAIMI),
42 U.S.C. §§ 15001-15115 and the Protection and Advocacy of
Individual Rights Act (PAIR), 29 U.S.C. § 794e. Defendants were
ordered to grant both physical access and names and contact
information to allow the agency to perform its statutory duty
to investigate suspected abuse and neglect.
On appeal - the HBOE challenged the courts findings, and added
the assertion that the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act
("FERPA") and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA")
prohibited release of information, visitation during school
hours, etc. even if PAIMI and PAIR provided P&A access to the
students and information. After oral argument - the Circuit
Court solicited the US Depts. of Education and Health and Human
Services to file amicus briefs to provide their interpretation
of FERPA and IDEA. Both agencies filed documents soundly rejecting
HBOE's arguments - and thus HBOE dropped that portion of their
appeal, The Court went on to affirm the District Court's holding
- including the issuance of the permanent injunction. The case
may be found on LEXIS or Westlaw, or by going to the Second
Circuit's website at http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/.
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Who Pays for Bullying?
In another interesting development - a New
Haven Superior Court recently held that parents of a Hamden
public school student who claimed their son, an alleged victim
of bullying, was not adequately protected by the school, did
not have a private right of action under the state's relatively
new anti-bullying statute, Conn. Gen. Stat. § 10-222d. In Santoro
v. Town of Hamden, (2006 Conn. Super. LEXIS 2418)(CV040488583),
the court found, inter alia, that the school board was entitled
to sovereign immunity because it was acting as an agent of the
state. In addition, the court concluded that there was insufficient
indicia that the legislature intended to create a private right
of action under 10-222d. Finally - the plaintiffs' claim for
injunctive relief also fell by the wayside as the request was
"too vague and imprecise" - as there lies great discretion by
school boards in implementing anti-bullying policies, and the
court was loathe to fashion injunctive relief which would "not
unduly interfere with governmental function."
The case, however, leaves open the issue
of whether other remedies exist for children who are victims
of bullying in the public schools. While the statute appears
not give rise to a private right of action for damages (according
to Judge Angela Robinson) - the question remains open as to
what remedies might be available pursuant to IDEA, or other
civil rights statutes (as well as traditional tort remedies).
A thoughtful piece by Thomas Scheffey on this case appeared
in the September 11, 2006 issue of the Connecticut Law Tribune.
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New Brochures (NCLB)
Free Tutoring under
NCLB (English)
Tutoría Gratuita bajo
NCLB (Spanish)
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New Brochure (CCA)
Child Abuse Project
