Related Resources
Overview: A Mission of Caring and Safeguarding
- The service plan may include crisis intervention and arranging for and coordinating any of the following services: adult day care, companionship, counseling, homemaker, home health care, home-delivered meals, long-term services and supports or, if necessary, emergency convalescent placement.
- In extreme cases, DSS can seek court authorization to provide services to a person who, upon professional assessment, presents as lacking the capacity to give consent to reasonable and necessary services to assure personal safety. Under certain circumstances, the Department may apply to the Probate Court for the appointment of a Conservator whose role is to make decisions on behalf of a person in need.
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To support this effort, the Department of Social Services has made online training available to educate people on how to recognize and report elder maltreatment.
- Please follow this link to access the PSE Web-Based Training for members of the general public.
- Please follow this link to access the PSE Web Based Training for Mandated Reporters. This self-paced training provides a certificate of completion.
To make a report, call Protective Services for the Elderly at the Department of Social Services during business hours at the toll-free line: 1-888-385-4225. After business hours or on weekends or state holidays, please call Infoline at 2-1-1. If you are calling from outside Connecticut, call Infoline 24/7 at 1-800-203-1234.
Conservator of Estate
In certain circumstances, the DSS Commissioner may be appointed by the Probate Court as the Conservator of Estate for elderly persons sixty years of age or older, if the person is incapable of managing his or her own financial affairs. DSS staff represents the Commissioner to assist in this manner.
Conservator of Person
The DSS Conservator of Person Program is administered by staff who represent the DSS Commissioner and are appointed by the Probate Court to supervise the personal affairs of an individual who has a critical need for someone to act on his or her behalf due to mental or physical disability.
Long-Term Care Investigations and Interventions
A program that provides non-medical homecare services as part of an overall case plan to maintain adults with physical and/or mental disabilities, age 18-64 inclusive, in the community. Without the provision of these significant supportive services, the adult with a disability would require institutional placement. Program services include: adult daycare; adult companion; home delivered meals; case management; chore; case work; homemaker; and personal emergency response system. Eligibility depends on income related to Medicaid, asset levels related to SSI, certification of need by a physician or other appropriate healthcare professional, and a Department social work assessment. Application is made by contacting the Department's regional offices.
Individual and Family Services
This program provides shelter services, including support staff, emergency food and living expenses and social services for victims of household abuse. It is also intended to reduce the incidence of household abuse through preventive education programs. The Department contracts with non-profit organizations to provide these services in their localities.
Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative (TPPI)
The program provides young people who are at risk of becoming teen parents with a structured, supportive, safe, after-school environment in which they can acquire the knowledge, skills and opportunities to succeed in life and avoid early parenting. The goal of the Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) program is to reduce teen pregnancies in Connecticut communities with the highest incidence of births to teens.