2005 Connecticut Code - Sec. 17a-3. (Formerly Sec. 17-412). Powers and duties of department. Master plan.
Sec. 17a-3. (Formerly Sec. 17-412). Powers and duties of department. Master
plan. The department shall plan, create, develop, operate or arrange for, administer
and evaluate a comprehensive and integrated state-wide program of services, including
preventive services, for children and youth whose behavior does not conform to the law
or to acceptable community standards, or who are mentally ill, including deaf and hearing impaired children and youth who are mentally ill, emotionally disturbed, substance
abusers, delinquent, abused, neglected or uncared for, including all children and youth
who are or may be committed to it by any court, and all children and youth voluntarily
admitted to the department for services of any kind. Services shall not be denied to any
such child or youth solely because of other complicating or multiple disabilities. The
department shall work in cooperation with other child-serving agencies and organizations to provide or arrange for preventive programs, including but not limited to teenage
pregnancy and youth suicide prevention, for children and youth and their families. The
program shall provide services and placements that are clinically indicated and appropriate to the needs of the child or youth. In furtherance of this purpose, the department
shall: (a) Maintain the Connecticut Juvenile Training School and other appropriate facilities exclusively for delinquents; (b) develop a comprehensive program for prevention
of problems of children and youth and provide a flexible, innovative and effective program for the placement, care and treatment of children and youth committed by any court
to the department, transferred to the department by other departments, or voluntarily
admitted to the department; (c) provide appropriate services to families of children and
youth as needed to achieve the purposes of sections 17a-1 to 17a-26, inclusive, 17a-28
to 17a-49, inclusive, and 17a-51; (d) establish incentive paid work programs for children
and youth under the care of the department and the rates to be paid such children and
youth for work done in such programs and may provide allowances to children and
youth in his custody; (e) be responsible to collect, interpret and publish statistics relating
to children and youth within the department; (f) conduct studies of any program, service
or facility developed, operated, contracted for or supported by the department in order
to evaluate its effectiveness; (g) establish staff development and other training and educational programs designed to improve the quality of departmental services and programs, provided no social worker trainee shall be assigned a case load prior to completing
training, and may establish educational or training programs for children, youth, parents
or other interested persons on any matter related to the promotion of the well-being of
children, or the prevention of mental illness, emotional disturbance, delinquency and
other disabilities in children and youth; (h) develop and implement aftercare and follow-up services appropriate to the needs of any child or youth under his care; (i) establish
a case audit unit to monitor each region's compliance with regulations and procedures;
(j) develop and maintain a database listing available community service programs
funded by the department; (k) provide outreach and assistance to persons caring for
children whose parents are unable to do so by informing such persons of programs and
benefits for which they may be eligible; (l) collect data sufficient to identify the housing
needs of children served by the department and share such data with the Department
of Economic and Community Development; (m) prepare and submit biennially to the
General Assembly a five-year master plan. The master plan shall include, but not be
limited to: (1) The long-range goals and the current level of attainment of such goals of
the department; (2) a detailed description of the types and amounts of services presently
provided to the department's clients; (3) a detailed forecast of the service needs of current
and projected target populations; (4) detailed cost projections for alternate means of
meeting projected needs; (5) funding priorities for each of the five years included in the
plan and specific plans indicating how the funds are to be used; (6) a written plan for
the prevention of child abuse and neglect; (7) a comprehensive mental health plan for
children and adolescents, including children with complicating or multiple disabilities;
(8) a comprehensive plan for children and youth who are substance abusers, developed
in conjunction with the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services pursuant
to the provisions of sections 19a-2a and 19a-7; and (9) an overall assessment of the
adequacy of children's services in Connecticut. The plan shall be prepared within existing funds appropriated to the department; and (n) prepare a plan to keep children who
are convicted as delinquent and will be committed to the Department of Children and
Families and placed in the Connecticut Juvenile Training School in such facility for at
least one year after their referral to the department, which plan shall include provisions
for development of a comprehensive approach to juvenile rehabilitation.
History: P.A. 75-524 essentially rewrote section, clarifying and extending department's responsibilities; P.A. 79-165 added Subdiv. (i) re master plan; P.A. 86-15 required biennial, rather than annual, submission of master plan; P.A. 89-191 added youth suicide prevention as part of the prevention programs the department is required to provide or arrange for; Sec. 17-412 transferred to Sec. 17a-3 in 1991; P.A. 91-268 added provision in Subdiv. (g) prohibiting a social worker trainee from working on assigned cases until the completion of training, added new Subdivs. (i) establishing a case audit unit, and (j) requiring the development of a list of community service programs, and relettered the remaining Subdiv. accordingly; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 91-8 added new Subdivs. (k) re providing outreach and assistance regarding various programs and benefits to persons caring for the children of others, and (l) re collecting housing data to identify and provide housing assistance to children in need and relettered the previous Subdiv. (Revisor's note: The reference in Subdiv. (c) to Sec. 17a-51 was deleted editorially by the Revisors to reflect the repeal of that section by P.A. 93-216, S. 8); P.A. 94-232 added teenage pregnancy to requirement for preventive programs and added new Subdiv. (8) to require a comprehensive plan for substance abusers; P.A. 95-250 and P.A. 96-211 replaced Commissioner and Department of Housing with Commissioner and Department of Economic and Community Development; P.A. 95-257 replaced Commissioner and Department of Public Health and Addiction Services with Commissioner and Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, effective July 1, 1995; P.A. 96-238 added reference to deaf and hearing impaired children and youth who are mentally ill and added children with complicating or multiple disabilities to Subdiv. (7), effective July 1, 1996 (Revisor's note: In Subdiv. (d) the Revisor's editorially replaced a comma with the word "and" before the words "the rates" in the phrase "... under the care of the department and the rates to be paid such ..."); P.A. 97-272 added provision requiring that programs provide services and placements that are clinically indicated and appropriate; P.A. 99-26 added Subsec. (n) to require the department to prepare a plan to keep delinquent children placed in the new Connecticut Juvenile Training School in such facility for at least one year, effective May 7, 1999, and amended Subsec. (a) to replace "Long Lane School" with "the Connecticut Juvenile Training School" and amended Subsec. (n) to delete "new" before "Connecticut Juvenile Training School", effective upon the filing with the Governor and the General Assembly of written certification by the Commissioner of Children and Families that the new Connecticut Juvenile Training School is operational (Revisor's note: Said written certification was filed with the Senate and House Clerks on September 20, 2001, and with the Governor on September 21, 2001).
See Sec. 17a-453c re "Project Safe" interagency collaboration.
Annotation to former section 17-412:
Subsec. (b):
Cited. 171 C. 644, 651, 653.
Annotations to present section:
Cited. 41 CA 565, 566.
Cited. 44 CS 551.
