acts affecting children

By:

Susan Price, Principal Analyst

2006-R-0360

July 12, 2006

NOTICE TO READERS

This report provides brief highlights of public and special acts affecting children enacted during the 2006 regular session.

In most cases we excluded education acts relating to school funding or making relatively minor changes. Please see the comprehensive Acts Affecting Education for all education changes enacted this session.

Not all the provisions of the acts are included; readers are encouraged to obtain the full text of acts that interest them from the Connecticut State Library, the House Clerk's office, or the General Assembly's website (http: //www. cga. ct. gov). Complete summaries of the acts passed in 2006 will be available shortly when OLR's Public Act Summary Book is published; most are now available on OLR's website (http: //cga. ct. gov/olr/OLRPASums. asp).

When a youth under Department of Children and Family's (DCF) care turns 18, he may choose to stay under its supervision either to develop independent living skills or to receive the agency's tuition assistance to attend a college or vocational training program. A new law requires the department to draw up a written plan for them, review it every six months, and hold an administrative hearing if the youth requests it.

Although child abuse and neglect files, which may include police and medical records, are generally confidential, the legislature has carved out some exceptions. This year it authorized Commission of Child Protection employees to obtain these records when they need them to do their jobs.

It also allows limited disclosure to the chief child protection attorney so that he can ensure that the legal services the private attorneys he supervises are appropriate and billed correctly.

The commission was established last year to oversee the quality of legal representation for children involved with DCF.

Often grandparents do not know when DCF takes their grandchildren into custody because of suspected abuse or neglect. This law requires DCF to make its best efforts to notify them within 15 days. Grandparents can also give the commissioner their address and phone numbers so she can notify them about the removal of a grandchild (1) currently the subject of an abuse or neglect investigation or (2) who has been, or is, under the department's care or supervision.

This act requires the Department of Children and Families (DCF), in consultation with Department of Social Services (DSS), Department of Mental Health Addiction Services (DMHAS), and the Department of Mental Retardation (DMR) to establish, within available appropriations, a kinship navigator program to help relative caregivers find services. The program must ensure that grandparents and other relative caregivers get information on the array of state services and benefits for which they may qualify, including the subsidized guardianship program. It also assumes DCF's role to tell relative caregivers how they can become foster parents. The DCF commissioner must ensure, within available appropriations, that the program's information is available through 2-1-1 Infoline. The DCF commissioner must report on the program to the Human Services Committee by January 1, 2008.

Existing law requires birth parents to repay the state for providing their children foster care services. This law makes a limited exception for a parent who gets money damages due to the wrongful death of her minor child between June 25, 2005 and May 26, 2006.

The legislature continued its efforts to speed up the process for freeing foster children for adoption this year. A new law adds to the list of parental wrongs that automatically make family reunification services inappropriate. It also requires DCF to start the court proceedings for terminating the biological parents' rights within 60 days of the court's approval of a plan to permanently place the child elsewhere.

The 1991 settlement of a lawsuit challenging DCF's handling of abuse and neglect cases resulted in the appointment of a court monitor to keep track of the agency's compliance with the consent decree. Prior law permitted his office to borrow state employees from other agencies to assist him until December 31, 2006. This act extends the period for one more year.

CHILD CUSTODY AND SUPPORT

Custodial parents who want to take their children with them when they relocate to another state present a challenge to courts when the other parent tries to block the move. This year the legislature required the relocating parent to prove that the move is in the child's best interests. Prior law required the nonrelocating parent to prove that it was not in the child's best interest.

Among other things, this act permits DSS to deposit child support payments directly in a parent's bank account electronically. The recipient may withdraw them using a special ATM card. Other major changes include:

1. requiring all noncustodial parents other than low-income obligors (e. g. , a parent with one child whose net weekly income is no more than $ 250) to pay a portion of the custodial parent's costs for obtaining HUSKY health insurance for their child.

2. allowing DSS to get address and employer information on those involved in child support cases from wireless telecommunication providers, instead of from only public utilities and cable television providers;

3. permitting DSS to require businesses to disclose information about the property, wages, and debts of a person it is investigating, instead of only those who have a child support order in place;

4. eliminating a requirement that DSS notify a person who owes child support before placing a lien on his property;

5. limiting an unwed father's past-due child support obligations at three years before his paternity was established;

6. allowing DSS to consider an incarcerated person's substantial assets, rather than only his negligible prison wages, in determining how much child support he must pay; and

7. prohibiting a prisoner who is incarcerated for an offense committed against his child or the child's parent from decreasing his child support obligations.

(PA 06-149, effective upon passage, except probate court provisions are effective October 1, 2006)

Connecticut is one of only three states that requires 16- and 17-year olds to be tried and sentenced as adults, and for several years the legislature has considered bills that would allow their cases and sentences to be determined in the Juvenile Court. This year it established a team to plan for raising the Juvenile Court's cutoff age to 18 years. The team must report its findings and legislative recommendations by January 1, 2007.

Several high profile cases involving sexual predators have spurred state legislatures around the country to reexamine their sex offender laws. In Connecticut, the General Assembly created a risk assessment board and ordered it to develop a scale to predict how likely it is that a soon-to-be-released offender will commit another sex crime. The new law ratifies the current practice of making electronic monitoring a condition of probation or conditional discharge.

Last year, the legislature established the Child Protection Commission to improve the quality of legal services provided to low-income children and their parents in abuse and neglect cases and some child support disputes. This year it expanded the commission's charge to include representation in other family matters, including divorce, alimony and child support and custody matters, and protective order proceeding related to domestic violence. And it requires the commission to provide training to guardians ad litem (court-appointed representatives to advocate for the best interests of a party).

A law passed last year (PA 05-250) requires DCF and the Judicial Department to develop and provide services, including those less restrictive than detention and residential placement, for girls under age 16 whose truancy, running away, or other misbehavior has caused them to be placed in the Family with Service Needs program. These services must be in place by December 31, 2007.

A law passed this session creates the Family with Service Needs Advisory Board to monitor the departments' progress and report to the Legislature.

This year the legislature reduced, from life to 10 years, the registration period for violators of several statutory rape laws. The covered offenders include coaches, mentors, and custodians in positions of trust who engage in sexual intercourse with underage victims.

For a number of years, the legislature has considered bills aimed at giving adopted adults access to their original birth certificates, thus learning the names of their birth parents. Prior law required them to get a biological parent's consent or a court order.

This new law grants them unrestricted access. It applies to adoptions completed on and after October 1, 2006. Disclosure is not required until the adoptee reaches age 21.

It also permits birth parents whose children were born in Connecticut to attach a form to the original certificate indicating if, and how, they would like to be contacted. A copy of the form is given to the adoptee along with a copy of his certificate. The parent's contact preference, however, is not binding.

Finally, another provision of this law creates a procedure for telling adoptees and birth parents how to get copies of the child's medical history form from DCF or the agency that handled the adoption.

A new law substantially increases civil and criminal penalties when employers allow high school students and drop-outs under age 18 to work longer hours than the law permits. Civil penalties are doubled, from $ 300 to $ 600 per offense. Criminal fines and prison time that used to be no more than $ 200 and 30 days' jail time per offense are now $ 2,000-$ 5,000 and up to five years' jail time per offense.

New Haven will benefit from an expanded Nurturing Families Network. This program, which has sites around the state, offers young parents with infants and toddlers free services, including home visits, and parenting classes. The Children's Trust Fund Council administers it

Another law requires DSS, Department of Public Health (DPH), and Department of Mental Health Addiction Services (DMHAS) to give information about Nurturing Family programs to Medicaid applicants and low-income pregnant women applying for medical assistance.

A new law requires DSS to establish a medical home pilot program in one part of the state. Its purpose is to improve health outcomes of children enrolled in the Medicaid program by ensuring that all have a primary care doctor to provide continuous, comprehensive care.

The department must operate the program within available resources and, along with DPH, evaluate it after one year to determine if children's health improved and the state saved money.

They must share their finding with the Public Health and Appropriations committees.

(PA 06-188, §§ 47-48, effective upon passage for the pilot program and October 1, 2006 for the evaluation)

Parents across the nation have mounted an attack on spammers who bombard children with unsolicited e-mail, especially those containing material unsuitable for kids. This year the legislature directed the DCP commissioner to study the feasibility of setting up a registry of email and similar addresses, similar to its telephone do-not-call list, making it illegal to send unsolicited email or other electronic communications to registered addresses. The commissioner must report to designated legislative committees by January 1, 2007.

Unless parents object, DPH must screen newborns for inherited metabolic and amino acid disorders, HIV, and hearing impairments. The department may charge a fee for doing so. A new law increases, from $ 345,000 to $ 425,000, the amount of the screening fees DPH can keep to operate this program. The remainder goes into the General Fund.

A new law exempts young drivers participating in Safe Rides programs from the midnight to 5 a. m. curfew placed on most 16- and 17-year olds. These programs usually pair two volunteers to transport drivers who cannot or are afraid to drive, often because of having had too much to drink. Safe Rides programs have spread in recent years from college campuses to high schools.

This act makes it clear that only 16- and 17-year old drivers who have been certified through a high school driver education class or by a commercial driving school can take their drivers test after having their learners permit for three months. Those taught to drive at home must wait six months, whether or not they completed the classroom portion at an approved driving school.

A new law prohibits the Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) commissioner from registering any student transportation vehicle, other than a school bus, until he is satisfied that the vehicle's insurance or bond coverage meets the law's minimum liability requirements. Student transportation vehicles include school vans and other vehicles that take students to off-campus activities.

Until this year, the DMV gave requesting school boards bimonthly lists of drivers holding both passenger and school endorsements whose licenses had been withdrawn, suspended, or revoked. A new law requires the list to include also those with passenger endorsements only, which include divers who transport school children.

This year the legislature expanded the state employee Family and Medical Leave program by including children living in non-traditional and blended families. The law now gives employees up to 24 weeks of unpaid leave spread out over two years to take care of the following seriously ill non-biological children: adoptees, foster children, step-children, and children in an employee's legal or constructive custody.

Sometimes chemotherapy and radiation treatments cause cognitive or developmental delays in young cancer patients. This law requires health insurers, including HUSKY providers, to cover testing to determine the extent of these delays without requiring the insurer to approve it in advance.

Youngsters are at higher risk of developing skin cancer from excessive exposure to the sun or other sources of ultraviolet radiation. A new law fines tanning parlor operators $ 100 for allowing clients under age 16 to use their facilities without a parent's written permission.

This law tightens up DPH's authority to take action against licensed athletic trainers who don't follow the profession's accepted standards. It allows the department to take disciplinary action ranging from probation to license revocation.

Activities that can result in DPH discipline include felony convictions; illegal, negligent, incompetent, or wrongful professional conduct; mental illness; physical illness, including deterioration through the aging process; and drug or alcohol abuse.

This year the legislature imposed stricter standards on day and sleep-away camps. Among other things, the new law requires (1) either the camp director or assistant director to be present whenever campers are there and (2) staff training on the camp's behavior management and supervision policies; emergency health and safety procedures; and how to recognize, prevent, and report child abuse or neglect.

It also establishes complaint and hearing procedures for anyone who believes a camp is placing any camper's health, welfare, or safety in danger or otherwise violating applicable laws or regulations.

School based health centers offer students on-site physical and mental health services. This law establishes an ad hoc committee of state agency workers and school service providers to study and recommend ways to improve access, particularly for students on Medicaid or uninsured or underinsured.

The legislature gave the state a new tool to combat underage drinking, passing a law that makes it illegal for kids to possess alcohol anywhere, rather than just in public. And it holds adults responsible when they allow minors to drink on their property (e. g. , at house parties) or don't stop those they suspect are illegally drinking there.

First offenses are infractions for both youngsters and property owners. Second and subsequent offenses subject (1) minors to fines between $ 200 and $ 500 and (2) property owners to fines of up to $ 500, imprisonment for up to one year, or both.

The legislature passed a law this year prohibiting passengers from riding in front of a jet ski driver. Those riding behind the driver must be able to hold securely onto the driver or on the vehicle's handholds and keep both feet on deck for balance.

Every year children are injured by fireworks that existing law prohibits kids under age 16 from buying, selling, or using. This year the legislature extended the law to sparklers and fountains that produce a shower of sparks when lit.

Violations carry a fine of up to $ 100, imprisonment for up to 90 days, or both. Stiffer penalties apply when someone is injured.

Pediatricians and family practice doctors sometimes do not pick up on signs of mental illness in their young patients. Starting this October, DMHAS must implement a pilot program for these doctors focusing on identifying, diagnosing, referring, and treating pediatric mental illnesses.

A new law requires the Office of Workforce Competitiveness director, in consultation with the Connecticut Employment and Training Commission, to set up a youth futures committee. The committee must develop service delivery guidelines and recommendations to improve inter-agency communication.

It must also assess existing resources and suggest ways to (1) maximize their use and (2) increase collaboration between state, local, and private sources to increase positive youth outcomes.

In an effort to help low-income parents get and keep jobs, the legislature authorized the state's Office of Workforce Competitiveness to establish pilot educational and job training programs. The credentials and skills the programs may offer include (1) high school diplomas, GEDs, and alternative degrees; (2) English as a second language; and (3) vocational training.

Low-income youths have historically had trouble getting summer jobs. This year the legislature increased their chances for success by appropriating $ 4 million for summer and youth employment programs. The state's five regional workforce investment boards will run the programs.

Most of the money goes to distressed cities and towns, but a school board can use up to 25% of its allocation and any funds left over from its summer program for year-round workforce development programs for low income teens ages 14-19.

People with criminal records, even for offenses committed as teenagers, often have trouble finding employers who will hire them. A new law is designed to make it easier. The Board of Pardons and Parole can now issue them certificates of employability, which create a presumption that they have been rehabilitated. State agencies must take them into account when deciding whether to hire or license them.

The law also allows the board to issue provisional pardons that also include a certificate of rehabilitation. It prohibits employers from rejecting job applicants or discriminating against employees who have this type of provisional pardon.

This year the legislature combined the Child Poverty and Prevention councils to achieve its goals to (1) cut child poverty in half by June 30, 2014 and (2) direct at least 10% of the budgets of agencies that provide prevention services for that purpose by 2010. The new law also requires the governor's next budget to detail recommended prevention appropriations and the state's progress in meeting its 10% goal. Executive branch agencies providing prevention services must report to the council on their efforts and long-term goals and the council, in turn, must report its findings and recommendations to the legislature.

A new law seeks to protect Connecticut children enrolled in HUSKY A (Medicaid) from possible cutbacks in the federal Medicaid Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment (EPSDT) program. It freezes HUSKY A's benefits at their December 31, 2005 level.

EPSDT services include medical, dental, and vision services and health and developmental assessments for children and youth under age 21.

This law specifies that school-based health programs can recommend durable medical equipment, such as wheelchairs, for enrolled students. It requires Medicaid reimbursement for eligible children. DSS may require prior authorization for some equipment types.

Youth Service Bureaus interact regularly with schools and their communities, offering educational, positive youth development, and recreation activities, often for those involved in the juvenile justice system. This year the legislature authorized a $ 14,000 grant to create one more bureau.

DSS is the defendant in a lawsuit claiming that its Medicaid dental services are inadequate, especially for children. This law authorizes the agency, with the legislature's approval, to use money in its FY 07 Medicaid appropriation to pay for any settlement of the case.

This law restores the DSS commissioner's authority to accept the income figure a family reports on HUSKY A and B renewal applications unless she has reason to believe it is inaccurate or incomplete.

Every year she must randomly review cases to determine of ineligible clients received HUSKY benefits by understating their income.

A new law directs Medicaid (HUSKY A) providers to cover home health care services for children while they are at day care, after school programs, and locations “substantially equivalent” to their homes. DSS already covers out-of-home skilled nursing care for this population.

An act increases the FY 07 allocation of priority school district funds for school readiness grants by $ 5,983,750, from $ 50,355,222 to $ 56,338,972. The act requires $ 3,483,750 of the school readiness grant appropriation for priority school districts to be used only for school readiness programs in Bridgeport, Hartford, New Britain, New Haven, New London, Waterbury, and Windham.

By law, a town must submit a plan to SDE by October 1 for spending all the noncompetitive school readiness grant funds for which it is eligible. Otherwise, under prior law, SDE could use 70% of the unallocated funds to provide supplemental grants to other eligible towns and 30% of those funds for school readiness professional development. The act allows SDE to determine the distribution of funds between these purposes and allows it also to use the funds to conduct activities related to preschool and kindergarten student development evaluations or assessments.

The law imposes a $ 6,925 per child limit on the cost of the SDE's school readiness program component. The act prohibits SDE from providing funding to school readiness providers that are not accredited by a time certain. If the provider first entered into a service contract with the town on or before January 1, 2004, it must be accredited by January 1, 2007 to retain funding eligibility. If the service contract was entered into after January 1, 2004, the provider has to be accredited within three years of the contract date to retain funding eligibility. The law already limits grants to providing spaces in accredited programs.

SDE is required by law to maintain a statewide public school information system. The act requires boards of education and state-funded preschool programs to participate in this information system by reporting on at least the following subjects in a manner prescribed by the education commissioner: (1) student experiences in preschools by program type and number of months in each such program and (2) student readiness for and progress in kindergarten. The reporting must be done annually beginning by October 1, 2007.

This act requires priority school districts seeking funding for early intervention reading programs from state early reading success grants to include in their proposals a provision for onsite teacher training and coaching in how to implement the research-based reading instruction specified by the Early Reading Success panel. It also requires each district that receives early reading success funds to report annually to SDE on its progress in reducing the achievement gap in reading. The report must include data on student progress and information on how the data has been used to guide professional development and teacher coaching.

This act requires the higher education commissioner, within available appropriations and in consultation with various groups, to develop accelerated, alternate route programs to initial teacher certification with an early childhood education endorsement. It also requires her to define preservice and minimum training requirements and competencies for people involved in early childhood education from birth to age five. These must include requirements for individual levels of credentialing and licensing.

A new law aims to identify and help poor readers at a younger age. It requires priority school districts to provide intensive remedial services, and in most cases, to require summer school attendance for students found to be deficient in reading. And it requires these schools to provide (1) on-site teacher training and (2) yearly progress reports to SDE.

Students who come to school hungry often have a tougher time learning. A new law sets up a pilot in-classroom school breakfast program. SDE can award grants to up to 10 severe needs schools.

This act bans the sale of artificially sweetened drinks to students during the school day. It requires the SDE to set nutritional standards for food sold to students and gives schools 10 cents for each lunch served that meets these standards.

Most nutritionists agree that eating fresh produce contributes to better health, especially if it is a substitute for less nutritious foods. A new law addresses this concern and also provides new markets for Connecticut farmers. The Farm-to-School program is intended to (1) encourage kids to learn more about Connecticut farmers and the benefits of eating locally grown fruit and vegetables and (2) assist farmers in selling their produce to schools.

A new law requires local and regional boards of education, by April 1, 2007, to establish comprehensive, coordinated plans to address their students' physical health needs. They may base them on the SDE's guidelines.

Existing law requires SDE to appoint a surrogate parent to represent students (1) whose parents cannot be located or are in DCF's custody and (2) who may need special education services or special accommodations for disabilities. This year the legislature required the department to appoint surrogate parents for students in this group who are: (1) homeless or living in cars, bus stations, or similar places or (2) runaways or otherwise not in a parent's or guardian's physical custody (“unaccompanied youth”).

Surrogates can give schools permission to evaluate students to determine if they are eligible for special education and may substitute for a parent in making special education decisions.

Among other things, this act prohibits school officials from making a student take prescription drugs in order to be evaluated for, enrolled in, or receive special education services.

It also requires school districts to reimburse parents who enroll their children in private schools because the districts failed to give children eligible for special education appropriate services in a timely manner.

This act broadens the law prohibiting school bullying by making it apply to intentional harassment and incidents that occur on school buses. It also (1) increases schools' obligations to tell students how they can report bullying, (2) requires schools to intervene when students repeatedly bully or are bullied, and (3) requires them to notify non-custodial parents about bullying incidents involving their children.

This act permits schools to start state mastery tests and other tests required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act before 9 a. m. A law passed last year required a later start time.

The act requires SDE, within available resources, to review programs in other states for their effectiveness in reducing the drop-out and suspension rates for students at risk of either. SDE must report its findings to the Education Committee January 1, 2007.

This act specifically requires Unified School District #1 to send the records of transfer students to their new school districts. The law already required a sending school district to provide this information within 10 days of receiving the mandated notice of enrollment from the new school district.

The act also requires the new school district to credit students for all instruction received in the unified school district within 30 days of receiving students' education records. Unified School District #1 serves students in the custody of the Department of Correction.

The act requires SDE to establish, within available appropriations, a “Future Scholars” pilot matching grant program. The grant is for public schools participating in externally funded programs that provide supplemental math and science instruction to students in grades eight through 10 who scored above the basic but below the proficient level on the mastery test in the previous year. School boards and vocational-technical schools awarded grants under the program must use the money to develop and implement an interdisciplinary math, science, and technology curriculum. The curriculum must include the establishment and staffing of math and science labs in middle and high schools that have demonstrated support from math, science, or technology-related businesses in the state.

The act requires SDE to establish, within available appropriations, a high school Math and Science Challenge Pilot Program. The program must use results from the math and science portion of the 10th grade mastery test to design and implement math and science curricula for 11th grade public school students. Grantees must use the money to develop and implement a math and science program for students who did not perform at least at the proficient level on the 10th grade test. They must evaluate the program, including by an analysis of student testing performance before and after participating in the program.

Beginning with this year's tax return, parents will be able to take a deduction for contributions to the Connecticut Higher Education Trust, the state-sponsored college savings plan. Annual deductions can be up to $ 5,000 for single, and $ 10,000 for joint filers. Taxpayers can carry forward unused deductions for five years, as long as each deduction taken is no more than the maximum permitted by the new law.

(PA 06-186, §§ 76-78, effective July 1, 2006 and applicable to tax years starting on or after January 1, 2006)

A new law allows minority students who don't live here to attend Connecticut colleges at the in-state tuition rate. Eligible candidates must have (1) a racial ancestry other than white and (2) attended Connecticut public schools from grades 10-12 under the sponsorship of programs like “A Better Chance. ” These programs identify and recruit academically talented and motivated students of color and guide them toward a variety of educational opportunities.