DCF: About DCF

· The Department received approximately 91,000 calls to the Hotline in State Fiscal Year 2009. These included over 41,000 reports of suspected abuse or neglect, of which over 23,000 were accepted for investigation. Approximately 6,800 reports were substantiated.

· At any point in time, the Department provides child protection treatment services to more than 4,000 families whose children were able to remain safely at home after a Department finding of abuse or neglect, an increase of 46 percent compared to 2002.

· In addition, approximately 5,000 children in the Department’s custody because of abuse or neglect also receive services -- which represents a decline of 18 percent since 2004 and a decline of 28 percent since 2000.

· At any point in time, the Department serves approximately36,000 children and 16,000 families across its programs and mandate areas.

Agency Overview

Working together with families and communities to improve child safety, ensure that more children have permanent families, and advance the overall well-being of children is the central focus of the Department of Children and Families (DCF). DCF protects children who are being abused or neglected, strengthens families through support and advocacy, and builds on existing family and community strengths to help children who are facing emotional and behavioral challenges, including those committed to the Department by the juvenile justice system.

DCF, established under Section 17a-2 of the Connecticut General Statutes, is one of the nation’s few agencies to offer child protection, behavioral health, juvenile justice and prevention services. This comprehensive approach enables DCF to offer quality services regardless of how a child's problems arise. Whether children are abused and/or neglected, are involved in the juvenile justice system, or have emotional, mental health or substance abuse issues, the Department can respond to these children in a way that draws upon community and state resources to help.

DCF recognizes the importance of family and strives to support children in their homes and communities. When this is not possible, a placement that meets the child’s individualized needs in the least restrictive setting is pursued. When services are provided out of the child’s home, whether in foster care, residential treatment or in a DCF facility, they are designed to return children safely and permanently back to the community.

DCF supports in-home and community-based services through contracts with service providers. In addition, the Department runs five facilities: a secure facility for boys who are committed to the Department as delinquents by the juvenile courts (the Connecticut Juvenile Training School); a children’s psychiatric hospital (Riverview Hospital); two residential facilities (Connecticut Children’s Place and High Meadows); and an experiential program for troubled youth in Connecticut (the Wilderness School).

Behavioral Health Services
DCF has statutory authority to provide for children's mental health services. The Department operates Riverview Hospital for Children and Youth, High Meadows Residential Treatment Center, and the Connecticut Children’s Place. Through Connecticut Community KidCare, the Department also provides funding for a broad array of clinical and other services in the community, including outpatient clinics for children, therapeutic group homes, extended day treatment programs, emergency mobile psychiatric services, respite care, family advocacy, intensive case management and much more.

Children and families can access state-operated or state-funded community services directly or through referrals from providers in the behavioral health system. Services are provided on a sliding scale, and the majority of service providers are affiliated with a variety of health insurance plans.

The Voluntary Services Program is a DCF operated program for children and youth with serious emotional disturbances, mental illnesses and/or substance dependency. This program is only for families who are not abusive or neglectful. The Voluntary Services Program emphasizes a community-based approach and attempts to coordinate service delivery across multiple agencies. At the foundation of this program is the requirement that parents and families are involved in the planning and delivery of services for their child or youth. The Voluntary Services Program reduces reliance on restrictive forms of treatment and out-of-home placement and promotes positive development.

Child Welfare Services
Child Welfare Services primarily carries out DCF’s mandate and responsibility to investigate all reports of alleged child maltreatment and to provide services to all children found to be in such a condition. There are 14 regional offices located throughout Connecticut. This Bureau is responsible for all children's Protective Services.

Contacting DCF Following the "Chain of Command" to get answers

To Report Child Abuse and/or Neglect call: 1-800-842-2288

If you have a question related to the child for whom you are caring, you should start with the child's social worker. If you are unable to reach the social worker or to resolve the situation to your satisfaction with the social worker, you should call the worker's supervisor. If problems are still unresolved, you should continue up the chain of command. The DCF "Chain of Command" is as follows:

   Social worker (SW)
   Social work supervisor (SWS)
   Program supervisor (PS)
   Program director (PD)
   Area Director (AD)
   Bureau Chief of Child Welfare
   Director of Field Operations (Chief of Staff)
   Commissioner

If you have non-child specific questions or problems, you should contact the DCF Ombudsman's Office at 860-550-6301.

DCF Hotline
DCF Hotline is open 24 hours a day and 7 days a week to receive calls from people with questions, concerns, and reports of child abuse and neglect. The Hotline also provides evening, weekend, and holiday investigation responses to immediate situations concerning abuse and neglect of children.

Adoption
There are many wonderful children awaiting for adoption through the Department of Children and Families.

Foster Care Services
The Office of Foster Care Services, a part of the Bureau of Child Welfare Services, provides a family environment for children who are temporarily unable to live in their biological homes. Together with other services provided to foster parents, families and children, these homes facilitate the reunification of children with their families or establish another permanent family for the children.

Adolescent and Transitional Services
Adolescent and Transitional Services assist youth under the care of DCF to make the transition from out of home care to a self-sufficient, productive life as an adult in the community. Adolescent Specialists provide specialized case management services, monitoring and support services through a variety of programs.

Exit Plan/Positive Outcomes for Children
The Department of Children and Families is currently making improvements to the the quality of its services and working to end a Federal Court’s oversight of the agency under a Consent Decree entered into by the State in 1991. This plan, also known as the Exit Plan or the Positive Outcomes for Children Plan, includes 22 goals to improve child safety, permanency and well-being. As many as 17 of the goals have been attained in quarterly measures of these outcomes.

Juvenile Services
Juvenile services seek to develop competency, accountability, and responsibility in all programs and services through the Balanced and Restorative Justice model (BARJ) – with the ultimate goal of each child achieving success in the community. Juvenile services offer programming through community-based services, private residential treatment, and state-operated facilities. Juvenile services collaborate with community providers, public and private agencies, families and educational agencies to individualize the treatment for each child based on the child’s strengths, culture and ethnicity, and gender, while maintaining community safety.

Medical/Health Services
The Department is responsible for assuring that children in its care and custody receive optimal health care. The administration of health care is overseen centrally and carried out at the area level through resource staff including a pediatrician, psychiatrist, registered nurses and pediatric nurse practitioners. Health care standards, policies, procedures and programs are developed and implemented in accordance with the criteria established by the American Academy of Pediatrics, various federal mandates, and state statutes and guidelines. Case specific medical consultation is provided to DCF facilities, nursing, medical and social work staff on the medical care of children in the care and custody of the Department.

Prevention
DCF’s prevention efforts promote a range of services that enable children and families to thrive independently in their communities and to apply evidence-based or best practice prevention approaches at strategic points in the DCF continuum of care. This work aims to ensure a smooth, timely and sustained transition for children, youth and families from DCF involvement to a state of independence and well being or to prevent DCF involvement altogether.

Content Last Modified on 11/16/2009 10:27:31 AM