Connecticut State Division of Public Defender Services

Members of the public have reported receiving calls, reportedly from the Judicial Branch of the Public Defender’s office, indicating that their loved one is in jail and they need to immediately send cash or provide a credit card number for bail. These calls are scams, so please do not send cash or provide your credit card number or any other personal information. A public defender would never call and ask for money or credit card information. If you receive such a call, contact the State Police in your state.

Child Protection Services
Seperated Bar

The Division of Public Defender Services ensures that children and indigent parents who require legal services and guardians ad litem in child protection, child custody and child support cases in Superior Court and the Family Support Magistrate Court, receive high quality, competent and zealous representation. Assigned Counsel and firms, along with the Division’s Child Protection Parent Defense team and juvenile field offices, provide such representation for more than 10,000 cases each year. 

 

The Division annually recruits new Assigned Counsel and firms for this vital and rewarding work, advocating for the fundamental rights of some of Connecticut’s most marginalized families. An Assigned Counsel contract provides an excellent opportunity for attorneys to litigate contested cases in court on a regular basis while controlling their own schedules and workloads. The Division will provide training, mentoring and support services to assure that contracted child protection attorneys and guardians ad litem are knowledgeable and trained in the substantive and procedural law applicable to these cases, capable of skilled advocacy and proficient in the subject areas that inform the issues their clients face. 

 

 

Contacts:

Renee Cimino, Director of Delinquency Defense and Child Protection
(Case Assignments, Assigned Counsel Training and Agency Policy regarding Child Protection Policy)

Alix C. Walmsley, Director of Assigned Counsel
(Assigned counsel Contracts & Billing Administration)