Gov. Malloy: Federal Court Continues to Affirm Department of Children and Families' Progress and Orders New Juan F. Exit Plan

Press Release

Governor Dannel P. Malloy today announced that the U.S. District Court overseeing the Juan F. consent decree has ordered changes to the decree, including a streamlined monitoring process and adequate staffing levels, which will enable the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to achieve better outcomes for children and families and ultimately result in an end to decades of court jurisdiction.

The order will modify both the measures and process for demonstrating attainment of those measures. These changes are intended to focus the agency's efforts on the areas of greatest need, improve outcomes for children in our state, acknowledge the significant progress the department has achieved to date, and make an end to 26 years of litigation and oversight more achievable in the near future.

"Ensuring the welfare of our children is among the most challenging, yet rewarding aspects of government," Governor Malloy said. "The court's decision to streamline the process of ending federal oversight is certainly a welcome one and is a testament to the improvements that DCF has made in its commitment to providing a family-oriented approach to child welfare under the leadership of Commissioner Katz. Even during these difficult budgetary times, we must do our best to remain as steadfast as ever in our mission to achieve the best outcomes for our most vulnerable children and families."

"Strengthening families and supporting staff in this difficult work takes sustained resources, and Governor Malloy has always stood by children and families who are battling to overcome adversity," DCF Commissioner Joette Katz said. "This new set of requirements is much more achievable and realistic in a relatively short period of time. I greatly appreciate this demonstration of confidence by Children's Rights, by the court, and by the Malloy administration."

Additional staffing will reduce caseloads of social workers -- many of whom now carry more cases than the standard set by the previous "exit plan." This allows the department to focus efforts on case planning and medical, dental and mental health treatment for children in foster care. The precise number of additional social workers will depend on projections in total caseloads, which fluctuate depending on factors including the number of new referrals.

In addition to lowering caseload requirements, the federal court order streamlines and further defines how the most complicated outcomes are measured. Equally as significant, the order directs that remaining criteria will be removed as they are met -- further reducing the scope of federal court review and allowing the department to redirect staff time now spent interacting with the court monitor to providing critical services more effectively and efficiently. Overall, six outcomes that have yet to be met remain active in the new order. As a result of sustained compliance, all other measures have been eliminated altogether or are pre-certified as having been met.

The six remaining outcome measures include:

Commencement of investigations
Completion of investigations
Case planning
Children's needs met
In-home case worker-child visitation
Caseload standards

DCF has made significant improvements under this administration, including a 9.3 percent reduction in the number of children in care, a doubling of the use of relatives and kin to provide family homes for children who must remain in care, a two-thirds reduction in the use of congregate or institutional settings for children in care, and the virtual elimination of the use of out of state placements. These dramatic changes in the shape of the Connecticut foster care system are the result of numerous improvements in how the department works in partnership with families to address issues affecting their children.

An end to court jurisdiction would not end the state's obligation to provide critical and robust services to children in need of them. DCF is currently and would continue to be subject to regulation and oversight by numerous state and federal entities.

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