We wouldn’t stand for it if children without disabilities were disciplined by being placed in a concrete room while school staff held the door shut. The practice has become acceptable, though, when it comes to children with special education needs. That is what prompted me to write an op-ed article for the Hartford Courant. It is time to ban the use of seclusion in public schools and limit the use of restraint to instances when it is necessary to prevent imminent serious bodily injury. Congress is considering such legislation – S. 2020 the Keeping All Students Safe Act – but Connecticut should not wait for Congress.

If you want to join the effort to ban seclusion and limit restraint, contact the Keep the Promise Coalition Children’s Committee.

• Individualized education programs (IEP’s), including how to read an IEP, and how to understand current levels of performance, measurable goals and objectives, and accommodations and modifications;
• Speech and language impairments and language disabilities, including the early signs that your child may have a language based disability;
• Reading disabilities, including information on literacy instruction;
• Scientific Research Based Interventions (SRBI) and Response to Intervention (RTI) and how SRBI and RTI affect children with special education needs;
• Educational evaluations, including the latest information on identification of specific learning disabilities;
• Neuropsychological evaluations, including information to help you decide whether your child needs a neuropsychological evaluation;
• Functional behavior assessments (FBA) and Behavior Intervention Plans (BIP);
• Transition planning;
• ADHD; and
• What to do if you disagree with PPT recommendations and when you need a special education lawyer.

This weekly special education series will occur on Thursdays from 9:30 to noon, beginning on September 15, 2011 and running through December 15, 2011 at the Learning Disabilities Association of Connecticut (LDA of CT), located at 999 Asylum Street in Hartford, CT. For more information, visit the Learning Disabilities Association of CT (LDA-CT).

I was the lead investigator for the Office of the Child Advocate and believe the new law is critical to closing significant loopholes in the system designed to protect children.  As parents, we send our children to school with the belief that they are safe.  While the vast majority of school employees present no safety risk to students, the investigation of the Office of the Child Advocate and Attorney General found that the mechanisms in place to protect children were woefully inadequate.  It is my sincere hope that Public Act 11-93 will ensure that those individuals who do harm children will not be employed by schools.

What did the investigation reveal and how does the law address the problem?

While the State Department of Education had the authority to conduct checks of the DCF Child Abuse and Neglect registry prior to issuing licenses to teachers and administrators, they didn’t.  Schools didn’t check the registry either.  As a result, individuals on the child abuse and neglect registry could be licensed and hired as teachers and school administrators.  The law addresses this problem by requiring the State Department of Education to check the DCF registry prior to issuing or renewing licenses and by requiring schools to check the registry as part of the hiring process for school employees.

Another significant problem uncovered by our investigation was that neither schools nor the State Department of Education had a system for documenting or keeping track of allegations that teachers or administrators abused or neglected students.  DCF wasn’t legally required to, and did not, notify the State Department of Education of allegations of abuse or neglect.  Even when DCF found that a teacher abused or neglected a student, the State Department of Education didn’t always receive notice.  This occurred for a number of reasons.  Sometimes the teacher resigned and schools interpreted existing law to mean that notification wasn’t required.  These teachers could simply get a job in another district and the new district would have no knowledge of the prior allegations.  Sometimes DCF substantiated neglect but not abuse and existing law didn’t require notification to the State Department of Education for findings of neglect, only abuse.  Sometimes it was because DCF notified the school Superintendent as the law required but the Superintendent didn’t notify the State Department of Education.  The law fixes these problems by requiring DCF to notify the State Department of Education whenever DCF receives a report that a teacher or school administrator is accused of abusing or neglecting a student, requiring schools to document and keep track of all allegations, and by requiring DCF to directly notify the State Department of Education when DCF finds that a teacher or school administrator has neglected or abused a child.

The law also addresses gaps in mandated reporting.  Mandated reporting laws exist to protect children – by ensuring that suspicion of child abuse and neglect is reported to DCF to be investigated.  During the investigation, we found that mandated reporting policies were outdated and didn’t reflect the law.  Some school district employees didn’t even know they were mandated reporters, didn’t receive adequate training to identify abuse or neglect, and were reluctant to make reports.  Even when reports were made to DCF, school districts didn’t always cooperate with DCF’s investigations of school employees.  The new law requires DCF and the State Department of Education to develop model mandated reporter policies, schools to ensure that all school employees receive mandated reporter training, DCF to track delays in reporting and make referrals for prosecution when appropriate, and schools to share information with DCF.

Public Act 11-93 is an important part of protecting children from abuse or neglect.  The co-chairs of the legislature’s Education Committee, Senator Andrea Stillman and Representative Andrew Fleischmann, the Human Services Committee, and the Governor should be commended for passing the law quickly.

If you believe a child is being abused or neglected by a school employee, or any other adult, you should report the abuse to the Department of Children and Families (DCF) by calling 1-800-842-2288 (TDD: 1-800-624-5518).  For more information on reporting child abuse and neglect, visit DCF’s “Q &A About Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect.”

Whatever your situation, as a grandparent or other relative of a child in DCF custody, you must act quickly.  The first and most important reason to act quickly is that multiple moves for children who have been abused or neglected has been shown to have a negative impact, especially on young children.  Multiple moves can be detrimental to brain growth, mental development, and psychological adjustment.  When relatives can be a resource for children, it is best for these placements to occur as early as possible after removal and for children to remain in the same home unless they can return to their parents.  Secondly, grandparents and other relatives have rights but time limits apply.  Grandparents and other relatives can intervene in juvenile court to ask the judge to give them custody.  Because time is of the essence, though, Connecticut statutes that grant relatives the right to intervene and seek custody generally have 90 day time limits.  While intervention may be possible after that, it is more difficult.

If you are a grandparent or other relative of a child in DCF care, it is important to learn about grandparents’ rights and relatives’ rights as early as possible after your relative has been taken by DCF.  If a child you love has been taken into DCF custody, don’t wait to act.  Contact a juvenile court attorney immediately and find out what you can do to help the child stay with family.

While placing children with relatives is a policy that should be supported and praised, the sad reality is that sometimes what is best for individual children gets lost in pursuit of a lofty policy goal.  As a result, some foster parents are learning that children who have been in their care for extended periods of time are going to be removed.  In some cases, the children have been with their foster parents for a year or more and are being placed with relatives with whom they have had little or no contact.  Foster parents are rightfully worried about how these changes in placement will affect children.  The impact of multiple placements on children in foster care can be devastating to their emotional well-being.  Indeed, the American Academy of Pediatrics has issued policy statements warning against multiple placements for children who have been abused and neglected, particularly when those children are young.

So, can DCF take your foster child?

Generally, the answer is yes, DCF has the authority to make placement decisions for children committed to their care.  That does not mean, however, that foster parents have no ability to protect the children in their care.  In fact, the law provides foster parents with rights.  Absent an emergency, foster parents have a right to written notice 14 days prior to removal.  Depending on the circumstances, foster parents may be able to have an administrative hearing to object to the removal.  It is even possible in some cases for foster parents to present their case in court. 

If you are a foster parent and DCF tells you they are removing a foster child from your care, you should contact a foster parents’ rights attorney immediately.  You have a very limited amount of time to take action to try to prevent the child from being subjected to multiple moves.

It is important to note that children who do not have disabilities are also protected from bullying by a variety of civil rights laws. If your child is being bullied at school and the school has failed to stop the bullying, you may want to contact an attorney to discuss what steps you can take to ensure that the school meets its obligations under federal and state laws.

The investigation, which spanned over four years and the entire state of Connecticut, found major flaws in the systems designed to protect children from abuse and neglect by school employees.   Most significantly, the investigation revealed:

• The State Department of Education does not check of the DCF Child Abuse and Neglect Registry to determine if a person has been found to have abused or neglected a child when licensing teachers, school administrators, and others.
• Only a tiny handful of school districts check the DCF Child Abuse and Neglect Registry to determine if a person applying for employment has been found to have abused or neglected a child.
• School employees do not always report to DCF suspicion that another school employee has abused and neglected a child, even though they are legally required to do so by mandated reporting laws.
• DCF does not have a system in place to document and address failures by mandated reporters to make timely reports.
• When abuse or neglect by school employees is reported to DCF, investigations are not always adequate.
• When school employees are found by DCF to have abused or neglected children, the findings are not always reported to the State Department of Education and the individuals may remain employed in the same district, move within district, or go to other school districts.

HB 6326 incorporates the recommendations of the report to close these gaps by requiring the State Department of Education to conduct DCF background checks prior to issuing or renewing certificates, authorizations, or permits and by requiring local school districts to conduct such checks prior to hiring.   Further implementing the recommendations of the report, HB 6326 will strengthen mandated reporter policies and training, require school districts to provide information to DCF when the agency is investigating allegations involving school employees, require school districts to maintain records of allegations of abuse or neglect, and ensure that the Commissioner of DCF notifies the SDE when a teacher or school administrator abuses or neglects a student or has been placed on the DCF child abuse and neglect registry.

If you support this legislation, contact your State Representative or Senator.

If you believe a child is being abused or neglected by a school employee, or any other adult, you should report the abuse to the Department of Children and Families (DCF) by calling 1-800-842-2288 (TDD: 1-800-624-5518).  For more information on reporting child abuse and neglect, visit DCF’s “Q &A About Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect.”