In my book, DCF only seemed interested in breaking my family up, not helping us."

Kathleen · medicine forum Guru Wannabe Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Posts: 148

http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-ctdcfpanels0412.artapr12,0,4683259.story?coll=hc-headlines-politics-state
http://actionlyme.org/DCF_ONLY_KIDNAPS_DOES_NOT_HELP_FAMILIES.htm

DCF Finds Itself Under Microscope In Forums

By PENELOPE OVERTON
Courant Staff Writer

April 12 2006

Two years ago, facing eviction from her home, Sarah Hasty called the
state Department of Children and Families in desperation, asking for
help from its voluntary service branch to keep her family of 10 from
ending up homeless.

After repeated calls, an operator at the DCF hotline finally told the
desperate North Haven mother that DCF could look into her situation,
but warned her that such an act could trigger a neglect or abuse
investigation that might cost her custody of her children.

"That made me hang up pretty quick," Hasty said. "Here I was, trying to
keep my children from being neglected, but DCF wouldn't listen until
they were neglected. It's too late then. In my book, DCF only seemed
interested in breaking my family up, not helping us."

Hasty's story drew sympathetic groans from the small crowd of parents,
lawyers and child and family advocates in New Haven at a recent public
forum organized by a citizen review panel to assess the performance of
the state's child welfare agency.

The review, which is required by federal law, is exploring what DCF is
doing right and wrong, but it is also investigating specific areas,
such as the ability of parents such as Hasty to seek voluntary services
from DCF through its telephone hotline.

Other areas under review include the role of public schools in DCF
investigations, how the older children under DCF care do when they
leave the system,statutory rape investigations, educational changes of
children in foster care and the curriculum at Southbury Training
School.

The review panels have already held forums in Waterbury and Thompson.
The next forum will be held tonight in Danbury at 6:30 at Broadview
Middle School. Others are planned for later this month in Hartford,
Norwalk and Bridgeport.

DCF spokesman Gary Kleeblatt said the agency welcomes any feedback on
its work.

The Waterbury, Thompson and New Haven forums have drawn feisty crowds
of parents who felt wronged by DCF, ranging from biological parents
claiming DCF unfairly took their children to people who have been shut
out of their grandchildren's lives since they reported suspected abuse.

Some parents and advocates have come to the forums with specific
suggestions.

Merva Jackson, executive director of African Caribbean American Parents
of Children with Disabilities, said DCF needs to pay more attention to
the culture of the families it investigates, hiring attorneys and
guardians from the same neighborhood or ethnicity when possible.

"If you really want to help them, you've got to really know the
families," Jackson said.

Matthew Naclerio, a New Haven-based attorney who represents families
dealing with DCF, said DCF needs to better train its caseworkers,
especially in the area of addiction service, which plays a role in so
many child welfare cases. He also recommended mentoring new hires.

"There is so much work to be done," Naclerio said. "It is really a mess
over there."

Several parents, including some who said they were later cleared of
abuse charges, said DCF needs to conduct its investigations more
carefully and that the impact of a DCF review could be almost as
traumatic for a family as the original neglect or abuse incident.

Barbara Fair was working during the day and going to school at night
when her teenage son forgot to tell her he couldn't pick up his younger
sister from the childcare center. When nobody showed up, the center
owner called the police, and the police called DCF.

"That night when I got home the cops and DCF were camped out in front
of my home," she said. "It was humiliating, with all the neighbors
watching, for something that, if somebody in the suburbs had done,
would have been seen as a misunderstanding."

Fair thought she had resolved the issue when she explained her son's
mistake to the police, but a year later, when she applied for a job,
she learned that she had been put on a DCF list of parents found guilty
of neglecting their children. She said she eventually got her name
removed from the list.

Parents agreed that they needed better resources to help with a DCF
investigation, such as a family advocate during the initial DCF visit,
a consent form to sign that would inform them of their legal rights,
and taped interviews.

The review panels will incorporate public comments into a report for
Gov. M. Jodi Rell in May. Federal law requires DCF to respond to the
panels' suggestions within six months, but it does not require the
state to enact any of the recommendations.

The state recently reorganized the review panels and contracted help
from FAVOR Inc., a family advocacy group for children's mental health.
The group has focused on the recruitment of low-income families and
public outreach. This will be the first report under the new system.

Copyright 2006, Hartford Courant

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