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Families With Service Needs: Policy and Practice Changes for Connecticut

Families With Service Needs: Policy and Practice Changes for Connecticut. May 10, 2007 Leading Change. Preston Britner, UConn HDFS Sara Mogulescu, Vera Institute Martha Stone, Center for Children’s Advocacy. Agenda. Introduction (Preston Britner)

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Families With Service Needs: Policy and Practice Changes for Connecticut

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  1. Families With Service Needs:Policy and Practice Changes for Connecticut May 10, 2007 Leading Change Preston Britner, UConn HDFSSara Mogulescu, Vera InstituteMartha Stone, Center for Children’s Advocacy

  2. Agenda • Introduction (Preston Britner) - History, Statutory Changes, Board, Statistics • National Models and Lessons (Sara Mogulescu) • The Connecticut Plan (Martha Stone) - Family Support Centers & the “High End” FWSN - Truancy Prevention • Evaluation Issues (Preston Britner) • Open-Ended Questions (Martha Stone) • Discussion

  3. “FWSN” Defined Family With Service Needs (FWSN) means a family that includes a child who: • Has runaway • Is beyond control • Has engaged in indecent or immoral conduct • Is a truant or habitual truant or defiant of school rules • Is 13 to 15 years old and has engaged in sexual intercourse with a person not more than 2 years older or younger

  4. History & Statutory Changes (Part I) • Public Act 05-250 (grey handout) eliminates – as of October 1, 2007 – the possibility of detention of a FWSN based solely on the violation of a FWSN order. • Public Act 06-188, Section 42 (blue handout) establishes the FWSN Advisory Board http://www.cga.ct.gov/kid/FWSN/FWSN.asp to: • Monitor DCF progress on programs for girls • Monitor Judicial progress on implementing 05-250 • Provide advice to Judicial & General Assembly • Make written recommendations to Judicial & General Assembly by Dec. 31, 2007

  5. The FWSN Board • Consists of key • legislators • judges • agency heads and personnel • citizens • Met 9 times since August 2006 • Not including meetings of sub-committees on Evaluation, High End Needs, and Truancy Prevention or other working groups • Reviewed: state data, programs, & service gaps, and national models; crafted proposed models and legislation

  6. History & Statutory Changes (Part II) • Substitute House Bill No. 5676 (white handout, labeled File No. 636) would implement the prohibition against incarcerating children solely for violating court orders regulating future conduct by establishes front-end procedures to assess and refer youth (and families) immediately to appropriate services.

  7. Connecticut Statistics on FWSNs

  8. Annual FWSN Referrals (N=3600) by Court

  9. FWSNs by Race/Ethnicity and Sex(FY 2006) Girls: 2039 FWSN Referrals Disposed • 763 White (37%) • 317 Black (16%) • 441 Latino (22%) • 9 Other • 509 Unknown (25%) Boys: 2344 FWSN Referrals Disposed • 859 White (37%) • 490 Black (21%) • 509 Latino (22%) • 10 Other • 481 Unknown (18%)

  10. FWSN Charges by Category

  11. FWSN Violations By Court • Of the 3600 FWSN referred juveniles each year, ~15% violate a court order • 52% of violators are girls • There is variability across courts (e.g., Waterbury has a disproportionately high number of violators)

  12. Detention and FWSN Referred Juveniles • 1989 juveniles were admitted to Detention in 2005 • 28% were girls • 72% were boys • 52% (1036) had a prior FWSN referral in their court history • 67% of girls who went to detention had a prior FWSN • 46% of boys who went to detention had a prior FWSN

  13. What can be learned from national models of diversion?

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