2015 Connecticut General Statutes
Title 10 - Education and Culture
Chapter 164 - Educational Opportunities
Section 10-19m - (Formerly Sec. 17a-39). Youth service bureaus. Annual report. Regulations.

(a) For the purposes of this section, “youth” means a person from birth to eighteen years of age. Any one or more municipalities or any one or more private youth-serving organizations, designated to act as agents of one or more municipalities, may establish a multipurpose youth service bureau for the purposes of evaluation, planning, coordination and implementation of services, including prevention and intervention programs for delinquent, predelinquent, pregnant, parenting and troubled youths referred to such bureau by schools, police, juvenile courts, adult courts, local youth-serving agencies, parents and self-referrals. A youth service bureau shall be the coordinating unit of community-based services to provide comprehensive delivery of prevention, intervention, treatment and follow-up services.

(b) A youth service bureau established pursuant to subsection (a) of this section may provide, but shall not be limited to the delivery of, the following services: (1) Individual and group counseling; (2) parent training and family therapy; (3) work placement and employment counseling; (4) alternative and special educational opportunities; (5) recreational and youth enrichment programs; (6) outreach programs to insure participation and planning by the entire community for the development of regional and community-based youth services; (7) preventive programs, including youth pregnancy, youth suicide, violence, alcohol and drug prevention; and (8) programs that develop positive youth involvement. Such services shall be designed to meet the needs of youths by the diversion of troubled youths from the justice system as well as by the provision of opportunities for all youths to function as responsible members of their communities.

(c) The Commissioner of Education shall adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, establishing minimum standards for such youth service bureaus and the criteria for qualifying for state cost-sharing grants, including, but not limited to, allowable sources of funds covering the local share of the costs of operating such bureaus, acceptable in-kind contributions and application procedures. Said commissioner shall, on December 1, 2011, and biennially thereafter, report to the General Assembly on the referral or diversion of children under the age of eighteen years from the juvenile justice system and the court system. Such report shall include, but not be limited to, the number of times any child is so diverted, the number of children diverted, the type of service provided to any such child, by whom such child was diverted, the ages of the children diverted and such other information and statistics as the General Assembly may request from time to time. Any such report shall contain no identifying information about any particular child.

(P.A. 76-127, S. 1–3, 5; P.A. 78-183, S. 1, 4; P.A. 89-191, S. 3; P.A. 91-146, S. 1, 2; P.A. 93-91, S. 1, 2; 93-432, S. 1, 6; P.A. 95-339, S. 1, 8; P.A. 06-196, S. 62; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 07-4, S. 78; Sept. Sp. Sess. P.A. 09-7, S. 78, 89; P.A. 11-136, S. 5, 6.)

History: P.A. 78-183 replaced youth service system with youth service bureau and expanded Subsec. (c), clarifying scope of regulations and adding provisions re annual report; P.A. 89-191 added Subsec. (b)(7) and (8) to include preventive programs, including youth suicide, alcohol and drug prevention and programs that develop positive youth involvement; Sec. 17-443 transferred to Sec. 17a-39 in 1991; P.A. 91-146 amended Subsec. (a) to provide that youth service bureaus may coordinate delivery of prevention, intervention, treatment and follow-up services for all youth and made technical change in Subsec. (b); P.A. 93-91 substituted commissioner and department of children and families for commissioner and department of children and youth services, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 93-432 added pregnant and parenting youth to the list of individuals who may be referred to a youth service bureau, allowed the adult courts to refer individuals to the youth service bureau, and provided that a youth service bureau shall be the coordinating unit of community-based services, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 95-339 amended Subsec. (c) to transfer responsibility for the program from the Commissioner of Children and Families to the Commissioner of Education, effective July 1, 1995; Sec. 17a-39 transferred to Sec. 10-19m in 1997; P.A. 06-196 made technical changes in Subsecs. (a) and (b), effective June 7, 2006; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 07-4 amended Subsec. (c) to substitute “age of eighteen” for “age of sixteen” and delete provision re referral or diversion of children between ages of sixteen and eighteen, effective January 1, 2010; Sept. Sp. Sess. P.A. 09-7 amended Subsec. (c) to substitute “age of seventeen” for “age of eighteen” and add provision re referral or diversion of children aged seventeen and eighteen, effective January 1, 2010, and further amended Subsec. (c) to substitute “age of eighteen” for “age of seventeen” and delete provision re referral or diversion of children aged seventeen and eighteen, effective July 1, 2012; P.A. 11-136 amended Subsec. (c) by replacing “1979” with “2011” and replacing “annually” with “biennially”, effective July 1, 2011.