Press Releases
09/05/2016
Gov Malloy Announces Children in Need are being Placed with Family Members at Record Levels
Family Placements Surpass Foster Care for First Time Ever
(HARTFORD, CT) - Governor Dannel P. Malloy and the Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF) today announced that placements of children in need with members of their own families have reached a record high in the state. Over the last several months, the number of children in DCF care who have been placed in these types of kinship families - either direct relatives or those who have pre-existing relationships with the child - has reached 42 percent. That represents the highest level ever in Connecticut and double the amount the agency was placing in 2011.
Also for the first time ever, kinship families now surpass foster homes in which the family does not have a prior relationship with the child as being the most common form of placing children in need with stable families and housing. Over the last several years through utilizing national best practices, DCF has particularly focused on placing children in need with family members themselves.
"The staff at DCF have worked tirelessly to achieve these goals. We believe that placing children with a family member is critical - it fundamentally improves outcomes. Commissioner Katz has launched a paradigmatic shift towards this model, and it's working. These are numbers to celebrate. We are seeing the change that we promised nearly six years ago," Governor Malloy said. "We know that the trauma children experience from being removed from their home is significantly diminished if the child lives with someone they know and love - a family member or another person with an established connection. We are building a system for the future and this is another milestone in that effort."
"We know from both the research and from common experience that children do better living with people they know and love," DCF Commissioner Joette Katz said. "Our staff has taken that fact to heart and made every effort to keep children with kin whenever possible consistent with safety and the child's well-being. Since we started five years ago, Connecticut has come from lagging the pack nationally and is now recognized as a leader in engaging kinship families to step forward when a child they know needs a home. I am very proud of the work the department has done to improve."
Commissioner Katz explained that non-kinship foster homes still play a critical role because not every child has a relative or kin available to provide care.
"Our traditional foster families provide loving homes and are tremendous partners in caring for children," she said. "Our foster care system overall is stronger, however, when we attain a healthy balance that also includes lots of relatives and kin."
Several initiatives at DCF have contributed to the growth of kinship families, including:
- In March 2012, the department initiated the use of family team meetings when social work staff anticipate that a child may have to be removed from home due to abuse or neglect. The meetings bring extended family and other people who know the child together to discuss whom might be able and willing to care for the child. These meetings have helped to reduce entries into foster care overall and to increase the use of kinship families if a child must be removed from his or her parent's home;
- The department has significantly improved how it engages fathers and paternal relatives to participate in creating solutions to challenges, including stepping into a caregiving role when needed. Extensive staff training and education has reinforced the importance of locating paternal relatives, and fathers from the community have been included in efforts to improve this area of work; and
- Additional resources are now specifically dedicated to locating kin for children who need a permanent home. Wendy's Wonderful Kids, a program run by Klingberg Family Services, now has additional staffing as a result of increased department funding. The program assists social workers to find families for children who do not have a permanent home. In addition, other department staff are assigned to specifically locate kin and to engage them in a decision to provide a home to a child they know.
- Twitter: @GovMalloyOffice
- Facebook: Office of Governor Dannel P. Malloy