Sec. 17a-3. (Formerly Sec. 17-412). Powers and duties of department. Master plan.
Sec. 17a-3. (Formerly Sec. 17-412). Powers and duties of department. Master
plan. (a) The department shall plan, create, develop, operate or arrange for, administer
and evaluate a comprehensive and integrated state-wide program of services, including
preventive services, for children and youths whose behavior does not conform to the
law or to acceptable community standards, or who are mentally ill, including deaf and
hearing impaired children and youths who are mentally ill, emotionally disturbed, substance abusers, delinquent, abused, neglected or uncared for, including all children and
youths who are or may be committed to it by any court, and all children and youths
voluntarily admitted to, or remaining voluntarily under the supervision of, the commissioner for services of any kind. Services shall not be denied to any such child or youth
solely because of other complicating or multiple disabilities. The department shall work
in cooperation with other child-serving agencies and organizations to provide or arrange
for preventive programs, including, but not limited to, teenage pregnancy and youth
suicide prevention, for children and youths and their families. The program shall provide
services and placements that are clinically indicated and appropriate to the needs of the
child or youth. In furtherance of this purpose, the department shall: (1) Maintain the
Connecticut Juvenile Training School and other appropriate facilities exclusively for
delinquents; (2) develop a comprehensive program for prevention of problems of children and youths and provide a flexible, innovative and effective program for the placement, care and treatment of children and youths committed by any court to the department, transferred to the department by other departments, or voluntarily admitted to the
department; (3) provide appropriate services to families of children and youths as needed
to achieve the purposes of sections 17a-1 to 17a-26, inclusive, 17a-28 to 17a-49, inclusive, and 17a-51; (4) establish incentive paid work programs for children and youths
under the care of the department and the rates to be paid such children and youths for
work done in such programs and may provide allowances to children and youths in the
custody of the department; (5) be responsible to collect, interpret and publish statistics
relating to children and youths within the department; (6) conduct studies of any program, service or facility developed, operated, contracted for or supported by the department in order to evaluate its effectiveness; (7) establish staff development and other
training and educational programs designed to improve the quality of departmental services and programs, provided no social worker trainee shall be assigned a case load
prior to completing training, and may establish educational or training programs for
children, youths, parents or other interested persons on any matter related to the promotion of the well-being of children, or the prevention of mental illness, emotional disturbance, delinquency and other disabilities in children and youths; (8) develop and implement aftercare and follow-up services appropriate to the needs of any child or youth
under the care of the department; (9) establish a case audit unit to monitor each area
office's compliance with regulations and procedures; (10) develop and maintain a database listing available community service programs funded by the department; (11) provide outreach and assistance to persons caring for children whose parents are unable to
do so by informing such persons of programs and benefits for which they may be eligible;
and (12) collect data sufficient to identify the housing needs of children served by the
department and share such data with the Department of Economic and Community
Development.
(b) The department shall prepare and submit biennially to the General Assembly a
five-year master plan. The master plan shall include, but not be limited to: (1) The long-range goals and the current level of attainment of such goals of the department; (2)
a detailed description of the types and amounts of services presently provided to the
department's clients; (3) a detailed forecast of the service needs of current and projected
target populations; (4) detailed cost projections for alternate means of meeting projected
needs; (5) funding priorities for each of the five years included in the plan and specific
plans indicating how the funds are to be used; (6) a written plan for the prevention
of child abuse and neglect; (7) a comprehensive mental health plan for children and
adolescents, including children with complicating or multiple disabilities; (8) a comprehensive plan for children and youths who are substance abusers, developed in conjunction with the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services pursuant to the provisions of sections 19a-2a and 19a-7; and (9) an overall assessment of the adequacy of
children's services in Connecticut. The plan shall be prepared within existing funds
appropriated to the department.
(c) The department shall prepare a plan to keep children who are convicted as delinquent and will be committed to the Department of Children and Families and placed in
the Connecticut Juvenile Training School in such facility for at least one year after their
referral to the department, which plan shall include provisions for development of a
comprehensive approach to juvenile rehabilitation.
(1969, P.A. 664, S. 2; P.A. 75-524, S. 3, 30; P.A. 79-165; P.A. 86-15; P.A. 89-191, S. 2; P.A. 91-268, S. 1; June Sp.
Sess. P.A. 91-8, S. 55; P.A. 94-232, S. 1; P.A. 95-250, S. 1; 95-257, S. 5, 58; P.A. 96-211, S. 1, 5, 6; 96-238, S. 15, 25;
P.A. 97-272, S. 6; P.A. 99-26, S. 11, 17, 39; P.A. 05-246, S. 1; P.A. 06-102, S. 3; 06-196, S. 102.)
History: P.A. 75-524 essentially rewrote section, clarifying and extending department's responsibilities; P.A. 79-165
added Subdiv. (i) re master plan; P.A. 86-15 required biennial, rather than annual, submission of master plan; P.A. 89-191
added youth suicide prevention as part of the prevention programs the department is required to provide or arrange for;
Sec. 17-412 transferred to Sec. 17a-3 in 1991; P.A. 91-268 added provision in Subdiv. (g) prohibiting a social worker
trainee from working on assigned cases until the completion of training, added new Subdivs. (i) establishing a case audit
unit, and (j) requiring the development of a list of community service programs, and relettered the remaining Subdiv.
accordingly; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 91-8 added new Subdivs. (k) re providing outreach and assistance regarding various
programs and benefits to persons caring for the children of others, and (l) re collecting housing data to identify and provide
housing assistance to children in need and relettered the previous Subdiv. (Revisor's note: The reference in Subdiv. (c) to
Sec. 17a-51 was deleted editorially by the Revisors to reflect the repeal of that section by P.A. 93-216, S. 8); P.A. 94-232
added teenage pregnancy to requirement for preventive programs and added new Subdiv. (8) to require a comprehensive
plan for substance abusers; P.A. 95-250 and P.A. 96-211 replaced Commissioner and Department of Housing with Commissioner and Department of Economic and Community Development; P.A. 95-257 replaced Commissioner and Department
of Public Health and Addiction Services with Commissioner and Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services,
effective July 1, 1995; P.A. 96-238 added reference to deaf and hearing impaired children and youth who are mentally ill
and added children with complicating or multiple disabilities to Subdiv. (7), effective July 1, 1996 (Revisor's note: In
Subdiv. (d) the Revisor's editorially replaced a comma with the word "and" before the words "the rates" in the phrase "...
under the care of the department and the rates to be paid such ..."); P.A. 97-272 added provision requiring that programs
provide services and placements that are clinically indicated and appropriate; P.A. 99-26 added Subsec. (n) to require the
department to prepare a plan to keep delinquent children placed in the new Connecticut Juvenile Training School in such
facility for at least one year, effective May 7, 1999, and amended Subsec. (a) to replace "Long Lane School" with "the
Connecticut Juvenile Training School" and amended Subsec. (n) to delete "new" before "Connecticut Juvenile Training
School", effective upon the filing with the Governor and the General Assembly of written certification by the Commissioner
of Children and Families that the new Connecticut Juvenile Training School is operational (Revisor's note: Said written
certification was filed with the Senate and House Clerks on September 20, 2001, and with the Governor on September 21,
2001); P.A. 05-246 divided section into new Subsecs. (a), (b) and (c), made technical changes throughout and changed
"region's compliance" to "area office's compliance" in Subsec. (a)(9); P.A. 06-102 amended Subsec. (a) to add "or remaining voluntarily under the supervision of" and substituted "commissioner" for "department", effective June 2, 2006;
P.A. 06-196 made technical changes in Subsecs. (a) and (b)(8), effective June 7, 2006.
See Sec. 17a-453c re "Project Safe" interagency collaboration.
Annotation to former section 17-412:
Subsec. (b):
Cited. 171 C. 644.
Annotations to present section:
Cited. 41 CA 565.
Cited. 44 CS 551.