Substitute Senate Bill No. 448
Substitute Senate Bill No. 448
PUBLIC ACT NO. 98-183
AN ACT CONCERNING TRUANCY AND OTHER FAMILY WITH
SERVICE NEEDS CASES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) With respect to truancy and
other family with service needs cases, the
judicial branch shall:
(1) Coordinate programs and services with
other state agencies;
(2) Establish protocols in cooperation with
the Office of Policy and Management, the
Department of Children and Families and the
Department of Education for referral to
community-based intervention programs prior to
referral of a case to the Superior Court for
juvenile matters;
(3) Develop and use procedures to evaluate
the risk and service needs of children whose cases
have been referred to the Superior Court for
juvenile matters; and
(4) Collaborate with community-based
programs.
Sec. 2. (NEW) (a) A demonstration project to
establish a school and community-based truancy
prevention initiative is authorized, which shall
address the needs of public school children who
exhibit patterns of unexcused absences from
school. The Office of Policy and Management, in
consultation with the Department of Education and
the judicial branch, shall issue a request for
proposals and award competitive grants. The Office
of Policy and Management, in consultation with the
Department of Education and the judicial branch,
shall select at least two demonstration project
sites.
(b) To be eligible for such a competitive
grant the program shall include:
(1) A description of the policies that the
community's board of education has adopted
pursuant to section 10-198a of the general
statutes, as well as the board's plans to work
with the leadership of community truancy
prevention initiatives to: (A) Monitor school
attendance; (B) enhance any existing in-school
truancy prevention programs; (C) establish
after-school and summer school programs for
truants; (D) provide mentoring programs for
children at risk of being truant; (E) implement
school and community-based intervention programs
that target families with elementary school
children who exhibit persistent patterns of
absenteeism or truancy; (F) provide in-school
alternative education initiatives for chronic
truants; and (G) provide monthly truancy reports
to the Office of Policy and Management.
(2) Participation of youth service bureaus,
juvenile review boards or other community-based
service networks, to provide such services as
truancy coordinators, mentorship programs and peer
mediation for children as well as truancy case
management for boards of education prior to the
referral of a truant to a juvenile court. Such
proposal may also provide for diversion of truants
from the juvenile court in appropriate cases. Case
management will include development of student
intervention action plans, family counseling and
parental education programs and, when appropriate,
referrals for mental health and substance abuse
assessments for the child and parents.
(c) For those communities who have been
awarded a grant pursuant to subsection (b) of this
section, and established community truancy
prevention initiatives, the Chief Court
Administrator may establish a truancy or family
with service needs docket and the Office of
Alternative Sanctions shall, within available
appropriations, make available to such communities
the following: (1) A risk and needs assessment
tool; and (2) funding for nonjudicial diversion of
appropriate truancy cases to youth service bureaus
and juvenile review boards. For court sanctioned
intervention programs the Office of Alternative
Sanctions shall: (A) Provide parenting education
programs; (B) expand existing programs to serve
truancy cases; (C) provide intensive outreach and
monitoring, including intensive probation services
for chronic truancy cases; (D) provide for mental
health assessment and outpatient mental health and
substance abuse services; and (E) provide for
short-term emergency residential placement for
children with multiple referrals to the juvenile
court for truancy, being beyond control and for
being runaways.
Sec. 3. (NEW) (a) The Chief Court
Administrator and the Secretary of the Office of
Policy and Management, in consultation with the
Commissioner of Education and Children and
Families, the cochairmen of and ranking members of
the committees on judiciary and education, a
representative from the Select Committee on
Children, a representative from the youth services
bureaus and a representative from the truancy
subcommittee of the Sale Schools and Communities
Coalition shall develop and submit, not later than
January 1, 1999, to the Governor and the General
Assembly, a family with service needs plan, which
shall include a recommendation for the 1999-2001
biennial budget to implement such a plan.
(b) The family with service needs resource
plan shall include:
(1) Recommendations to address the
multifaceted problems confronting children in a
family with service needs.
(2) Recommendations from youth service
bureaus, juvenile review boards, other similar
community-based service networks and the Safe
Schools and Communities Coalition concerning
structured prevention programs, including programs
that target families with truants in elementary
schools.
(3) Recommendations from the judicial branch
regarding: (A) Expansion of the number of truancy
or family with service needs dockets; (B)
development of community-based programs for
chronic truants; (C) intensive intervention
programs for children referred to the juvenile
court for being beyond control or for being
runaways, who also have a history of truancy; (D)
emergency shelters and short-term residential
programs for family with service needs cases
involving children beyond control and runaways;
(E) how the jurisdiction of the juvenile court
should be expanded to extend the status offense of
running away or being beyond the control of a
parent to youths and what services, programs and
resources would be required by juvenile court to
effectively extend such jurisdiction; (F)
utilizing magistrates for truancy cases; (G)
tracking family with service needs cases into the
adult criminal court system; and (H) research and
program evaluation.
(4) Recommendations from the Department of
Children and Families regarding instituting the
protocol developed by the family division of the
judicial branch and the Department of Children and
Families.
Sec. 4. Section 46b-148 of the general
statutes is repealed and the following is
substituted in lieu thereof:
When a child whose family has been adjudicated
as a family with service needs in accordance with
section 46b-149, AS AMENDED BY THIS ACT, violates
any valid order which regulates future conduct of
the child made by the court following such an
adjudication, a probation officer, on receipt of a
complaint setting forth facts alleging such a
violation, or on his own motion on the basis of
his knowledge of such a violation, may file a
petition with the court alleging that the child
has committed a delinquent act by reason of having
violated a valid court order and setting forth the
facts claimed to constitute such a violation. Such
child may be processed as any other delinquent
child under this chapter, except that (1) such
child shall not be held in detention prior to a
hearing on such petition for more than seventy-two
hours excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays;
and (2) in entering any order that directs or
authorizes [disposition of placement in a
state-operated detention facility, Long Lane
School or any other secure facility] PLACEMENT IN
A FACILITY UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE OFFICE OF
ALTERNATIVE SANCTIONS OR COMMITMENT TO THE
DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES, the judge
shall make a determination that there is no less
restrictive alternative appropriate to the needs
of the child and the community.
Sec. 5. Section 46b-149 of the general
statutes is repealed and the following is
substituted in lieu thereof:
(a) Any selectman, town manager, police
officer or welfare department of any town, city or
borough, probation officer, superintendent of
schools, the Commissioner of Children and
Families, any child-caring institution or agency
approved or licensed by the Commissioner of
Children and Families, any youth service bureau, a
parent or foster parent of a child, or a child or
his representative or attorney, who believes that
the acts or omissions of a child are such that his
family is a family with service needs, may file a
written complaint setting forth those facts with
the superior court which has venue over that
matter.
(b) The court shall refer a complaint filed
under subsection (a) of this section to a
probation officer, who shall promptly determine
whether it appears that the alleged facts, if
true, would be sufficient to meet the definition
of a family with service needs, provided a
complaint alleging that a child is a truant or
habitual truant shall not be determined to be
insufficient to meet the definition of a family
with service needs solely because it was filed
during the months of April, May or June. If such
probation officer so determines, he shall promptly
either (1) refer the matter, with the consent of
the child and his parents or guardian, to a
suitable community-based or other service
provider, or (2) file a petition with the court in
the manner prescribed in subsection (c) of this
section. In either case, the probation officer
shall inform the complainant in writing of his
action. If it appears that the allegations are not
true, or that the child's family does not meet the
definition of a family with service needs, the
probation officer shall inform the complainant in
writing of such finding. In any case in which the
probation officer does not file a petition, he
shall also inform the complainant of the right of
such person to file a petition pursuant to
subsection (c) of this section. Any person who has
filed a complaint pursuant to subsection (a) of
this section, and who has been notified by a
probation officer that such officer does not
intend to file a petition for a family with
service needs may, within thirty days after
mailing of such notice, file a petition under
subsection (c) of this section.
(c) A petition alleging that a family
constitutes a family with service needs shall be
verified and filed with the Superior Court which
has venue over the matter. The petition shall set
forth plainly: (1) The facts which bring the child
within the jurisdiction of the court, (2) the
name, date of birth, sex and residence of the
child, (3) the name and residence of his parent or
parents, guardian or other person having control
of him, and (4) a prayer for appropriate action by
the court in conformity with the provisions of
this section.
(d) When a petition is filed under subsection
(c) of this section, the court may issue a summons
to the child and his parents, guardian or other
person having control of him to appear in court at
a specified time and place. The summons shall be
signed by a judge or by the clerk or assistant
clerk of the court, and a copy of the petition
shall be attached to it. Whenever it appears to
the judge that orders addressed to an adult, as
set forth in section 46b-121, are necessary for
the welfare of such child, a similar summons shall
be issued and served upon such adult if he is not
already in court. Service of summons shall be made
in accordance with section 46b-128. THE COURT MAY
PUNISH FOR CONTEMPT, AS PROVIDED IN SECTION
46b-121, ANY PARENT, GUARDIAN OR OTHER PERSON SO
SUMMONED WHO FAILS TO APPEAR IN COURT AT THE TIME
AND PLACE SO SPECIFIED. If a petition is filed
under subsection (c) of this section alleging that
a family is a family with service needs because a
child is a truant or habitual truant, the court
may not dismiss such petition solely because it
was filed during the months of April, May or June.
(e) When a petition is filed under subsection
(c) of this section alleging that a family
constitutes a family with service needs because it
includes a child who has been habitually truant,
the court shall order that the local or regional
board of education for the town in which the child
resides, or the private school in the case of a
child enrolled in a private school, shall cause an
educational evaluation of such child to be
performed if no such evaluation has been performed
within the preceding year. Any costs incurred for
the performance of such evaluation shall be borne
by such local or regional board of education or
such private school.
(f) If it appears from the allegations of a
petition or other sworn affirmations that there
is: (1) A strong probability that the child may do
something that is injurious to himself prior to
court disposition; (2) a strong probability that
the child will run away prior to the hearing; or
(3) a need to hold the child for another
jurisdiction, a judge may vest temporary custody
of such child in some suitable person or agency.
[or may, on or before July 1, 1981, order the
child held in a state-operated detention home,
pending a hearing to determine whether or not
temporary custody should be continued until a full
hearing on the merits may be held.] No
nondelinquent juvenile runaway from another state
may be held in a state-operated detention home in
accordance with the provisions of sections 46b-151
to 46b-151g, inclusive, Interstate Compact on
Juveniles. A hearing on temporary custody shall be
held not later than ten days after the date on
which a judge signs an order of temporary custody.
[, provided on or before July 1, 1981, no child
may be held in a state-operated detention home for
more than twenty-four hours, excluding Saturdays,
Sundays and holidays, unless an order has been
issued by a judge after a hearing and a finding by
the court that the circumstances described in
subdivision (1), (2) or (3) of this subsection
exist.] Following such hearing, the judge may
order that the child's temporary custody continue
to be vested in some suitable person or agency.
[or, on or before July 1, 1981, that the child be
held in a state-operated detention home.] Any
expenses of temporary custody shall be paid in the
same manner as provided in subsection (b) of
section 46b-129.
(g) If it appears that the interests of the
child or the family may be best served, prior to
adjudication, by a referral to community-based or
other services, the judge may permit the matter to
be continued for a period not to exceed three
months. If it appears at the conclusion of the
continuance that the matter has been
satisfactorily resolved, the judge may dismiss the
petition.
(h) If the court finds, based on clear and
convincing evidence, that the family of a child is
a family with service needs, the court may, in
addition to issuing any orders under section
46b-121, (1) refer the child to the Department of
Children and Families for any voluntary services
provided by said department or, if the family is a
family with service needs solely as a result of a
finding that a child is a truant or habitual
truant, to the authorities of the local or
regional school district or private school for
services provided by such school district or such
school, which services may include summer school,
or to community agencies providing child and
family services; (2) commit that child to the care
and custody of the Commissioner of Children and
Families for an indefinite period not to exceed
eighteen months; (3) order the child to remain in
his own home or in the custody of a relative or
any other suitable person (A) subject to the
supervision of a probation officer or (B) in the
case of a family which is a family with service
needs solely as a result of a finding that a child
is a truant or habitual truant, subject to the
supervision of a probation officer and the
authorities of the local or regional school
district or private school; or (4) if the family
is a family with service needs as a result of the
child engaging in sexual intercourse with another
person and such other person is thirteen years of
age or older and not more than two years older or
younger than such child, (A) refer the child to a
youth service bureau or other appropriate service
agency for participation in a program such as a
teen pregnancy program or a sexually transmitted
disease program and (B) require such child to
perform community service such as service in a
hospital, an AIDS prevention program or an
obstetrical and gynecological program. If the
court issues any order which regulates future
conduct of the child, PARENT OR GUARDIAN, the
child, PARENT OR GUARDIAN, shall receive adequate
and fair warning of the consequences of violation
of the order at the time it is issued, and such
warning shall be provided to the child, PARENT OR
GUARDIAN, to his attorney and to his legal
guardian in writing and shall be reflected in the
court record and proceedings.
(i) (1) The Commissioner of Children and
Families may petition the court for an extension
of a commitment under this section on the grounds
that an extension would be in the best interest of
the child. The court shall give notice to the
child and his parent or guardian at least fourteen
days prior to the hearing upon that petition. The
court may, after hearing and upon finding that
such extension is in the best interest of the
child, continue the commitment for an additional
indefinite period of not more than eighteen
months. (2) The Commissioner of Children and
Families may at any time PETITION THE COURT TO
discharge a child, committed under this section,
and any child committed to the commissioner under
this section, or the parent or guardian of such
child, may at any time but not more often than
once every six months petition the court which
committed the child to revoke such commitment. The
court shall notify the child, his parent or
guardian and the commissioner of any petition
filed under this subsection, and of the time when
a hearing on such petition will be held. Any order
of the court made under this subsection shall be
deemed a final order for purposes of appeal,
except that no bond shall be required nor costs
taxed on such appeal.
Sec. 6. Section 46b-149a of the general
statutes is repealed and the following is
substituted in lieu thereof:
(a) Any police officer who receives a report
from the parent or guardian of a child that such
child is a member of a family with service needs,
as defined in section 46b-120, shall promptly
attempt to locate the child. If the officer
locates such child, or any child he believes has
run away from his parent or guardian's home
without permission, or any nondelinquent juvenile
runaway from another state, he shall report the
location of the child to the parent or guardian,
and may respond in one of the following ways: (1)
He may transport the child to the home of the
child's parent or guardian or any other person;
(2) he may refer the child to the superior court
for juvenile matters in the district where the
child is located; [or, on or before July 1, 1981,
he may transport the child to any state-operated
detention home;] (3) he may hold the child in
protective custody for a maximum period of twelve
hours until the officer can determine a more
suitable disposition of the matter, provided (A)
the child is not held in any locked room or cell
and (B) the officer may release the child at any
time without taking further action; or (4) he may
transport or refer a child to any public or
private agency serving children, with or without
the agreement of the child. If a child is
transported or referred to an agency pursuant to
this section, such agency may provide services to
the child unless or until the [child or his]
CHILD'S parent or guardian at any time refuses to
agree to those services. Such agency shall be
immune from any liability, civil or criminal,
which might otherwise be incurred or imposed;
provided such services are provided in good faith
and in a nonnegligent manner.
(b) Any police officer acting in accordance
with the provisions of this section shall be
deemed to be acting in the course of his official
duties.
Approved June 4, 1998