One of the key bills passed this session involves creating an Oversight Committee for the Department of Children and Families. It also provides more resources for recruitment and retention. Rep. Corey Paris (D-Stamford) and Rep. Anne Dauphinais (R-Killingly) talk about working across party lines and the issues that still need to be addressed.
Mike Hydeck
The deaths of three children recently who were involved with cases in the Department of Children and Families led to a bill calling for more oversight of the department, and it got overwhelming support from both parties in the state house. So what’s in it, and how can it help to protect children? Joining us now to discuss is representative Corey Paris, a Democrat from Stamford. He’s the chair of the committee of children, and representative Anne Dauphinais, did I say it? Right? I practiced. A Republican from Killingly, ranking member on the same committee. Welcome. Good to have you both here. Nice to see you both. First up, Representative Paris. I’ll start for you. How is House Bill 5004 going to protect children?
Corey Paris
Well, House Bill 5004, which was a bipartisan effort, and we were proud to really take on this effort to create more transparency and accountability, is going to be able to do a couple of things. One, it’s going to provide resources to the agency so that we can further retain workers and that workforce and keep people employed by DCF. But then, in addition to that, creates a 28 person oversight committee, which will allow for the sister agencies of DCF, parents, legislators from both sides of the aisle, to come together to work with DCF to identify any challenges that they might be facing. So we can then legislate new ideas in future sessions to help offset any challenges that the agency sees. And we’re providing more money and more supports for foster care families and young kids. So we’re hoping that this will actually begin to solve many of the challenges that we’ve seen in previous years.
Mike Hydeck
And in recent studies, we know the caseload is significant per case worker. So maybe that could lead to hiring. Is that sort of the goal down the line?
Corey Paris
Absolutely. Lead to hiring. So recruitment and retention are both critically important, and we hope that that will at least start to fix that issue.
Mike Hydeck
Representative Dauphinais, I want to go to you now. So in the Mimi Torres Garcia case, DCF tried to track her down. Police say the mom created a fake Zoom call and she was impersonated on that Zoom call so they didn’t know that she had passed away or she wasn’t with us anymore, which is an absolutely heartbreaking case. Does this legislation address that at all, or is this more of a broader picture?
Anne Dauphinais
We did try to address that with a 14 day notice. If the family is being investigated by DCF or tracked by DCF or part of DCF, they will have to check in report that they’re going out of town and for the 14 day period, and then if they don’t return, then there would be a follow up, and there’s a succession of things that would have to follow that. So that’s part of that. Mimi Torres was a little bit different because she wasn’t necessarily being followed by DCF. But I’m happy to say that the social worker that was following the other children in the household, that one of the things that they’re called to do is to have conversation with each one.
Mike Hydeck
Each one of the children in the house?
Anne Dauphinais
Each one of the children, even though she wasn’t being followed by DCF. And so the social worker and her and, you know, to her credit, went above and beyond, and that’s where that Zoom call came into play. So we’re happy about that, but, in general, we don’t like a Zoom call. We want to face to face. So there are some things in place to do that, even working with other states to have that happen.
Mike Hydeck
That was my next question. Would Connecticut DCF call, say, Vermont or New Hampshire, or something like that, and say, Listen, we have a child there who’s in our purview.
Corey Paris
Yes.
Mike Hydeck
And have we reached out to those other states? Will they do that? I mean, you think in their heart of hearts they would do it. Doesn’t necessarily mean they have the manpower to do it.
Corey Paris
Well, I think, to and look, to Anne’s credit, and certainly credit of members from both parties, our focus was to ensure that even if we did not have eyes on the child, that we would be able to have an interstate compact with other states where that child might be currently and look to those jurisdictions, either their child protective services agencies or their local law enforcement, to say to them, Hey, we need you just to do a wellness check. And once you do that wellness check, then we can proceed back here. And this was Anne’s idea, we can proceed back here in Connecticut to actually, then have a Zoom call if necessary. So I think that this checks and balance system is going to be as near perfect as we can get it. But certainly we hope that other states will be cooperative with us.
Mike Hydeck
So speaking of Zoom calls, one of the ways, it seems, and I think you guys both would agree, to try to make DCF more healthy, is to get more people so the case workers can happen. One of the things that came out this week from the child advocate, there are certain employees that could do Zoom 80% of the time? Is that okay?
Anne Dauphinais
So that’s something else we talked about, actually, when we were done.
Mike Hydeck
Because face to face is the goal, right? To try to make sure a case is on track.
Anne Dauphinais
So one of the things that since Covid, the DCF workers, and many workers, as you know, in reality, have been able to work from home. And I think that’s something we really need to look at and dig deep into. Because honestly, DCF workers need to be out in the field. They need to be visiting the families, they need to be in court. And while we understand there’s administrative duties to be done, I don’t think they need to be done five days a week. So we, there’s still more to look at, more to make better, and we’re in the process of doing that. Hopefully next session we can address that. Y
Mike Hydeck
Do you think right now, I mean, we’ve seen some testimony, do you think the Department of Children, Families has enough as far as a head count to try to handle all these tens of thousands of cases?
Corey Paris
Well, I think we certainly need more people to go and be employed by DCF. And in this bill, you know, we work very hard to attract new young people to come into program, and come to the agency,
Mike Hydeck
To kind of create a pipeline.
Corey Paris
Right. A pipeline, which, we have a mentorship program, which will provide a stipend for both a seasoned person and a brand new DCF employee, so they’re learning real time how to actually maintain and survive within the agency and succeed within the agency. There’s also a new internship program, which will allow for young college students who want to have a career in state government, work with DCF, and then, you know, once they learn on the ropes in real time what it’s like to work there, they’ll also receive a stipend. But our concern certainly is just not retention, it’s definitely recruitment, and we hope that some of these efforts will address that.
Mike Hydeck
Less than 30 seconds. Did you want to add?
Anne Dauphinais
No, that’s that’s really the key. We really focused on the title of the bill, which is accountability and transparency, and everything we put into it followed suit with that.
Mike Hydeck
Well, as this moves forward, we definitely want to have you back, because this is, when we watch children die, it’s an absolute heartbreak for all of us.
Anne Dauphinais
Very much.
Mike Hydeck
That’s a good bill. Nice to see you. Thanks coming in.