A new report finds Connecticut’s Department of Children and Family Services faces challenges doing its work.

A 2024 law requires DCF to report on how many people use the program, but the Connecticut Voices for Children report finds a system rife with workforce shortages for mental-health programs and barriers to care. The need for supportive services has grown after the pandemic.

Dr. Emily Knox, Connecticut Voices for Children's research and policy director, said the situation isn't new, but it remains challenging to address.

"Although we’ve been hearing anecdotally and in qualitative data what providers are facing," she said, "the mechanism of policy change and of impacting this is really complex, because there are so many contributing and conflicting factors."

Data required by the 2024 law is missing, leaving information gaps for DCF. Without it, Knox said, kids and families won’t have access to vital state support, which compounds issues they’re already dealing with. It could mean they’ll need more intensive and more expensive services, which they may not be able to afford given the state’s high cost of living.

Beyond increased transparency about the data, the report outlines several ways the state can remedy issues in the DCF. This includes supporting providers and paying them a sustainable rate for care, as well as greater recognition of a family’s economic stability factors.

Knox said Connecticut must implement these changes, because the current presidential administration is upending social safety-net programs.

"Building this capacity statewide, right now, is really paramount," she said, "because if visibility erodes nationally, as it’s already started to, states have to strengthen their own capacity, their own infrastructure, and their own ability to respond to some of that."

The biggest challenge to beefing up these programs is sustained financing. The report’s recommendation says closing the tax gap of billions in owed revenue from underreported non-wage income can do this without raising taxes.

Knox said changes to the state’s fiscal controls, which aim to increase stability, have been overly restrictive. But she’s confident lawmakers have the political will to get it done.

"We’ve seen movement and I think there is a great deal of willingness and discussion happening around that, just around those very proposals, now, down at the Capitol," she said. "So, it’s a, I think, wait-and-see."

Source: Public News Service