DCF Fails: Child Dies After Agency Visit

Two nominees to head up key child welfare offices in the state just move forward.

But that's happening against a tough backdrop of failures at the Department of Children

and Families, or DCF.

Recent cases show kids dying right after the agency got involved, including one girl

found dead just a week after DCF started checking on her family, and another where the

mom tricked workers with a fake video call.

After this week, the office of the child advocate dropped a letter spotlighting another

tragedy, a child died less than an hour after a DCF visit.

That kid even told the worker they felt unsafe and wanted foster care.

But the agency left him at home with a family that had a long history of issues, unstable

housing, and no school enrollment for the children.

People are fired up, especially advocate Rosalind Gio, who's questioning how DCF workers

skid basic protocols like home checks and follow-ups with.

Doctors or teachers, her office reviews these critical incidents daily and says patterns

are emerging that put kids at real risk.

Now the office of the child advocate has launched a full probe into that latest death, zeroing

in on why foster care got ruled out so fast despite all the red flags.

Meanwhile, lawmakers stepped up Thursday with a bill that passed the House 149-0, creating

a new oversight board to watch DCF closely.

And push for better policies to protect these vulnerable kids moving forward.

From your city, powered by AI, this is Hartford News today.