You asked if the Department of Children and Families (DCF) must notify or get a town’s permission to locate a group home there. This office is not authorized to give legal advice and this report should not be considered such.

Because the law treats DCF group homes as a single family residence, the department can establish them in any residential neighborhood without giving the town prior notice or obtaining its approval (CGS § 8-3e(a)(2)). But the agency must seek zoning board approval if the site it selects is within 1,000 feet of an existing DCF group home or a group home for people with mental retardation (§ 8-3f).

An established home that DCF converts to serve a different population must get a new license and notify the municipality that a new license application has been filed (P. A. 05-7). And any town resident who obtains the approval of its legislative body may petition DCF to revoke a group home’s license on the grounds that it is not complying with any law or regulation governing its operations (CGS § 8-3e(b)).

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