Broad reforms in child protection, access to health care, expansion of school readiness programs and better schools form the foundation of Governor Rowland’s work for a better quality of life for our state’s youngest citizens.

The program is designed to cover children whose parents are unable to access health insurance on their own and to cover children who are already eligible but enrolled.

In 2002, more than 90,000 children received services from the Department of Children and Families, the state’s primary agency for the protection of children.

Governor Rowland has more than doubled the budget for DCF since taking office in 1995, and hundreds of new social workers have been hired.

Governor Rowland instituted aggressive reforms starting in 1995, working to ensure the safety of an abused and neglected child comes first when caseworkers make decisions concerning his or her care. He has also pushed for legislation to make it easier for parental rights to be terminated, thus freeing up children in need for adoption.

New, innovative programs have been launched, including the Connecticut Community Kidcare program to provide children with better access to mental health and substance abuse services within their own community. Thousands of children received these services in 2002 alone.

A special focus on finding permanent homes for children in need has resulted in a four-fold increase since 1996.

Governor Rowland supported the creation of the Office of the State Child Advocate in 1995 to provide the state a permanent watchdog over services for children. The Child Advocate provides an independent voice on behalf of children and invaluable insight in how the state can continuously improve its level of service.

One of a parent’s worst fears is losing a child to abduction. The Department of Public Safety’s AMBER Alert network is up and running, with more than 100 additional highway information signs assisting in the apprehension of child abductors. Child identification kits are now available at local police stations and DMV branches to help parents compile information of critical use to public safety officials in the event their child is abducted.

More than 200 foster children are college-bound in 2003, with tuition support from the state. In 2002, 228 foster children received tuition and other support from the Department of Children and Families, attending both public and private universities including UConn, Stanford, and Yale.

The maximum age for foster children to receive state support for college was raised from 21 to 23 upon the recommendation of the DCF Youth Advisory Board, composed of adolescents in foster care.

To ensure at-risk children receive necessary support services, Governor Rowland has supported priority school grants for the state's neediest communities. These funds are used for a wide variety of services, including early reading intervention, dropout prevention, after school programs, and extended kindergarten.

In 1997, a major expansion of school readiness programs was launched to improve and expand facilities and programs for pre-school age children prior to entering school. Since being launched the programs have nearly doubled in size. More than $40 million was spent in 2002 alone in grants to cities and towns to offer childcare and school readiness programs to more than 6,000 children.