About DCF

Working together with families and communities to improve child safety, ensure that more children have permanent families, and advance the overall well-being of children is the central focus of the Department of Children and Families (DCF). DCF protects children who are being abused or neglected, strengthens families through support and advocacy, and builds on existing family and community strengths to help children who are facing emotional and behavioral challenges, including those committed to the Department by the juvenile justice system.

DCF, established under Section 17a-2 of the Connecticut General Statutes, is one of the nation’s few agencies to offer child protection, behavioral health, juvenile justice and prevention services. Whether children are abused and/or neglected, are involved in the juvenile justice system, or have emotional, mental health or substance abuse issues, the Department can respond to these children in a way that draws upon community and state resources to help.

DCF recognizes the importance of family and strives to support children in their homes and communities. When this is not possible, a placement that meets the child’s individualized needs in the least restrictive setting is pursued. When services are provided out of the child’s home, whether in foster care, residential treatment or in a DCF facility, they are designed to return children safely and permanently back to the community.

DCF supports in-home and community-based services through contracts with service providers. In addition, the Department runs four facilities: a secure facility for boys who are committed to the Department as delinquents by the juvenile courts (the Connecticut Juvenile Training School); a children’s psychiatric hospital (Albert J. Solnit Psychiatric Center, North Campus in East Windsor and South Campus in Middletown) and an experiential program for troubled youth in Connecticut (the Wilderness School).

If you have a question related to the child for whom you are caring, you should start with the child's social worker. If you are unable to reach the social worker or to resolve the situation to your satisfaction with the social worker, you should call the worker's supervisor. If problems are still unresolved, you should contact the supervisor's manager, their office director or other senior manager as follows:

Social Worker (SW)
Social Work Supervisor (SWS)
Program Manager (PM)
Office Director
Regional Administrator
Commissioner

If your contact with the DCF area office does not result in a resolution to your question or situation, please contact the DCF Ombudsman's Office at 860-550-6301.

Adolescent Services assist youth under the care of DCF to make the transition from out of home care to a self-sufficient, productive life as an adult in the community. Adolescent Specialists provide specialized case management services, monitoring and support services through a variety of programs.

Child Protective Services primarily carries out DCF’s mandate and responsibility to investigate all reports of alleged child maltreatment and to provide services to all children found to be in such a condition. There are 14 regional offices located throughout Connecticut (go to DCF Offices). A variety of wrap around services are provided to children in their homes as well as children in temporary and permanent placements (such as foster care, youth shelters, residential facilities, group homes, pre-adoptive homes, etc.). Voluntary Services offers support to families who contact the agency and meet the requirements. In order to best serve families with multiple needs, DCF contracts with numerous agencies to provide services such as, psychiatric/psychological/therapeutic, anger management, parenting classes, parent aides, domestic violence, substance abuse, family preservation and reunification. All of these services are prepared to meet the needs of people of all ethnic/cultural backgrounds and are able to provide services in various languages.

Exit Plan/Positive Outcomes for Children: The Department of Children and Families is currently making improvements to the the quality of its services and working to end a Federal Court’s oversight of the agency under a Consent Decree entered into by the State in 1991. This plan, also known as the Exit Plan or the Positive Outcomes for Children Plan, includes 22 goals to improve child safety, permanency and well-being. As many as 17 of the goals have been attained in quarterly measures of these outcomes.

Foster and Adoption Services are responsible for the coordination, planning, and implementation of foster care and adoption initiatives statewide. On any given day there are approximately 3,500 children in out-of-home care. Some of the children are hard to place due to their special medical needs and/or need for a home that will take a sibling group. Therefore, foster and adoption staff provide ongoing recruitment efforts, home assessments, training and licensing, and support services of foster care and adoptive parents. Specialized recruitment is also provided through this Office of Foster and Adoption Services. This office is also responsible for out of state inquires and maintains a photo listing of all available children currently awaiting adoption. Follow this link to learn more at the Foster and Adoption webpage.

Juvenile Services seek to develop competency, accountability, and responsibility in all programs and services through the Balanced and Restorative Justice model (BARJ) – with the ultimate goal of each child achieving success in the community. Juvenile services offer programming through community-based services, private residential treatment, and state-operated facilities. Juvenile services collaborate with community providers, public and private agencies, families and educational agencies to individualize the treatment for each child based on the child’s strengths, culture and ethnicity, and gender, while maintaining community safety.

Mental Health Services DCF has statutory authority to provide for children's mental health services. The Department operates the Albert J. Solnit Psychiatric Center - North Campus in East Windsor and the Albert J. Solnit Psychiatric Center - South Campus in Middletown. Through Connecticut Community KidCare, the department also provides funding for a broad array of clinical and other services in the community, including Child Guidance Clinics, Extended Day Treatment Programs, Emergency Mobile Psychiatric Services, Respite Care, Family Advocacy and Intensive Case Management.

Children and families can access state-operated or state-funded community services directly or through referrals from providers in the mental health system. Services are provided on a sliding scale, and the majority of service providers are affiliated with a variety of health insurance plans.

Medical Health and Wellbeing Services is responsible for assuring that children in its care and custody receive optimal health care. The administration of health care is overseen centrally and carried out at the regional level through resource staff including a pediatrician, psychiatrist, registered nurses and pediatric nurse practitioners. Health care standards, policies, procedures and programs are developed and implemented in accordance with the criteria established by the American Academy of Pediatrics, various federal mandates, state statutes and guidelines. Case specific medical consultation is provided to DCF facilities, nursing, medical and social work staff on the medical care of children in care and custody of the Department.

Substance Use Services are provided to children and families in a variety of contexts. In addition to services provided in DCF facilities, the department funds substance use prevention, intervention and treatment services in the community. These treatment services include the following: home based, outpatient and residential treatment services for youth; immediate access for drug testing, evaluations and outpatient substance abuse treatment is available to primary caregivers involved in the department's child protective services through a DCF contract with a managed statewide network of substance use providers; Supportive Housing for Families ( SHF Referral ); Substance Abuse Families at Risk (SAFAR). The Substance Use Division emphasizes the use of evidence based treatment models.

In addition, Substance use Specialists are part of Regional Resource Groups (RRG's) in each of the Department's area offices, providing consultation, assessment, coordination and training on substance abuse issues to enable DCF social workers to better serve families.

Connecticut State Department of Children and Families

About DCF (Links to Webpages)

N