Significant 2006 State Legislation

• 2006 Child Welfare Legislation

  • PA 06-188 An Act Requiring A Study of State Social Services Institutions and Departments with Respect to the Expenditures of Such Institutions and Departments and the Programs Administered or Services Provided by Such Institutions and Departments.
    
    New dollars for children's oral, mental and physical health, as follows:

  • HUSKY - The omnibus social service and health bill includes provisions to restore self-declaration of income for recipients who are up for yearly re-enrollment. The Department will conduct random audits for quality control. The bill did not restore continuous eligibility, which would have allowed recipients to continue health coverage regardless of whether they had "officially" filled out all appropriate forms for enrollment;

  • EPSDT- Early Periodic Screening Diagnosis and Treatment for children in Medicaid is now required by state law and cannot be included in federal waivers of service;

  • Newborn Screening - includes $500,000 for a new newborn screening account;

  • Pilot Autism Spectrum Disorders Program - Establishes a new program to provide coordinated system of supports and services for children and adults suffering from this disease;

  • Families with Service Needs - Establishes a Families with Service Needs Advisory Board;

  • Medical Home Pilot - Establishes a medical home pilot to enhance health outcomes for children in HUSKY to provide ongoing, coordinated care by primary physicians;

  • HUSKY a Services - Requires reimbursement to home health care agencies that provide care in a child's home or child day care center.

  • New budget allocations for health: School-based health centers, $1,029,702 (total $7,676,462); HUSKY, $1,970,000 (total $29,220,000); Birth to Three Program, $799,185 (total $24,571,677); KidCare (Medicaid mental health program), $1,276,404 (total $24,190,985).

  • PA 06-37 An Act Concerning Grandparent Notification When A Child Is Removed From The Home
    
    This bill provides that DCF shall use its "best efforts" to "identify and notify" a child's grandparents when the child is removed from his parent's home. The grandparent must be notified within 15 days of removal.
    
    Click Here for full text
    

  • PA 06-102 An Act Extending Family and Medical Leave to Foster Parents Who are State Employees, Services For Individuals Eighteen Years Of Age And Older In The Care And Supervision Of The Commissioner Of Children And Families, Permanency Plans For Children, And Employment Accommodations For Members Of The General Assembly.
    
    This act contains several provisions related to permanency procedures and treatment plans for children or youth committed to the Department and young adults receiving services from the Department voluntarily.
    
    First, the bill amends Connecticut General Statute § § 17a-11 and 17a-15 to provide that any youth who remains voluntarily with DCF after age 18 is entitled to a written treatment plan and review of such plan.
    
    C.G.S. § 17a-3 is also amended to clarify that DCF is obligated to “plan, create, develop, operate or arrange for, administer and evaluate a comprehensive and integrated state-wide program of services, including preventive services, for … all youth voluntarily admitted to, or remaining voluntarily under the supervision of, [DCF].” (emphasis added.)
    
    Secondly, C.G.S. § 46b-129 is amended to include the following:
    
    
  1. Motions for rulings on the necessity of providing further reunification services may be consolidated with termination of parental rights trials.
  2. The Court does not have to make a finding related to reunification or commitment at each permanency plan hearing.
  3. Revocation of commitment is now mandatory when a party demonstrates that cause for the commitment no longer exists and revocation is in the child's best interests.
  4. An objection to a permanency plan must include grounds for the objection and a proposed alternative. Note that the burden of persuasion remains with DCF.
  5. If the permanency plan for reunification is approved, the court must determine a schedule for services that the state must provide to foster reunification.
  6. Permanency Plans may provide for long term foster care so long as the home is with a licensed or certified relatives.
  7. DCF must document a compelling reason why it would not be in a child's best interests to have a permanency plan calling for adoption, long-term relative foster care, or guardianship when it recommends another permanency goal.
  8. DCF has 60 days from the court’s approval of an adoption plan in which to file a termination of parental rights petition.
     
     Thirdly, the bill provides that reunification efforts are not required when the parent has subjected the child to aggravating circumstances, which include:
     
     
     • knowingly permits someone else to (1) sexually molest, exploit, severely abuse, or engage in a pattern of abusing, the child. (emphasis added.)

     
     Full text of bill can be found: http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cgabillstatus

  • PA 06-164 An Act Concerning Recommendations Of The Child Poverty Council Related To Job Training And Child Wellness
    
    To reach the state goal of reducing child poverty by 50% over the next ten years, this bill:
  • Allows the Office of Workforce Competitiveness to establish pilot programs giving parents who don't receive welfare access to training opportunities that will help them get and keep jobs;

  • Requires the Departments of Social Services, Public Health and Mental Health and Addiction Services to disseminate information about services provided by the state's Nurturing Family Network;

  • Funds $6.5 million for job training and education of TANF recipients .
    
    Click Here for full text

  • HB 5254 An Act Concerning Membership of the State Prevention Council and State Agency Prevention Services for Children, Youth and Families in Crisis
    
    This bill:

  • Reduces crisis spending and invests in proven prevention services that offer improved outcomes for children and youth in health, safety, and learning;

  • Sets a goal of a bringing the state's investment in prevention services up to 10% of the state budget by 2020;

  • Mandates a report on prevention spending to be included in the state's biennial budget, to identify policies and programs that promote child health, learning, and wellness;

  • Combines the work and goals of the Prevention Council into the work of the Child Poverty Council.
    
    Click Here for full text

  • PA 06-182 An Act Concerning Youth Policy
    
    This bill provides that DCF, in consultation with DSS and DMHAS and DMR, create a kinship navigator program to help relative caregivers find services. Though DCF already has a kinship foster care program, thhis bill provides that DCF must ensure that grandparents and other qualified caregivers get information on the array of state services and benefits for which they m ay qualify, including the subsidized guardianship program.
    
    Click Here for full text.

  • PA 06-187, the Budget Implementer Bill, sections 23-24
    
    This bill expands the duties of the Chief Child Protection Attorney (CCPA) to include the provision of legal services and guardians ad litem not only to indigent parties in juvenile matters, but in family matters as well. The bill provides that the CCPA will provide initial training for guardians ad litem in addition to attorneys.
    
    Click Here for full text.
    
    

• 2006 Juvenile Justice Legislation

• 5782 An Act Concerning The Age Of A Child For Purposes Of Jurisdiction In Delinquency Matters And Proceedings
  
  Status: Although 5782 did not pass, partial language of the bill was included in the Budget Implementer Bill, HB 5846 (now PA 06-187).
  
  The purpose of this bill is to plan for the extension of jurisdiction in delinquency matters and proceedings to include sixteen-year-old children on and after January 1, 2008, and seventeen-year-old children on and after January 1, 2009.
  
  Click Here for full text.

• PA 06-188
  
  This bill includes a provision creating a Family with Service Needs (FWSN) Advisory Board. The Board will consult with DCF and the Judicial Department to facilitate development and administration of services to female status offenders. The Board will make written recommendations to the legislature and Judicial Department by December 31, 2007, at which time the Board shall dissolve. The bill provides that the Board members consist of the Chief Court administrator, the child advocate, the chief child protection attorney, key members of the Judiciary and Human Services Committees, the OPM secretary, two DCF employees, a juvenile court judge, a public defender specializing in FWSN cases, and a governor appointee.
  
  Click Here for full text
  
  

• 2006 Education Legislation

• PA 06-192 An Act Concerning Minor Revisions To The Education Statutes
  
  This bill provides, among other things, that Unified School District #1 send the records of transfer students to their new schools. The bill requires that the new district credit students for all instruction received in the unified school district within 30 days of receiving students' education records.
  
  Click Here for full text.

• PA 06-115 An Act Concerning Bullying Policies In Schools And Notices Sent To Parents And Legal Guardians
  
  This bill increases the obligations of school districts to combat bullying by expanding the definition of bullying, increasing the school's oblitation to help students report bullying and requiring interventions for repeat offenders or victims.

• Requires schools to create an anti-bullying policy, along with a way for students to become aware of the policy and to report bullying to teachers and other school personnel anonymously.

• Allows parents to file written reports of bullying to school officials. Each complaint of bullying will be dealt with in a case-by-case basis so that some bullies may receive counseling, some may receive discipline and others may receive both, depending on the type and number of complaints against a student.

• Allows parents who are separated or divorced or split for some reason or another to receive information, whether the child lives with them or not.
  
  Specifically, the bill provides the following:
  
  1. the definition of bullying will be expanded to include acts commiteed on a school bus as well as "overt acts directed at another student with the intent to harass that student."
  
  2. schools must create a system for allowing students to anonymously report bullying. The school must advise studens yearly as to how to make such a report.
  
  3. schools must create case-by-case interventions to address repeated aggressors or victims of bullying.
  
  Click Here for full text.
  

• 2006 Healthcare Legislation

• HB 480 An Act Concerning Child Care *
  
  This bill mandates that DSS provide reimbursement under Husky Part A to children for services provided by a home health care agency in the child's house or a "substantially equivalent environment." The bill defines "substantially equivalent environment" to include (but not be limited to) "facilities that provide child day care services … and after school programs …"
  
  *This language was moved to § 50 of SB 703, now PA 06-188.”

• For more information, go to the following websites:

• Office of Legislative Research

• Connecticut Department of Children and Families summary of recent legislation
  
  

• Legislation from 2007 session
• Legislation from 2006 session
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