Select Committee on Children
Human Services Committee
AN ACT REVISING THE DEFINITION OF A CHILD CARE FACILITY TO CONFORM WITH THE DEFINITION OF A CHILD
SUMMARY: This act raises the maximum age at which a child committed to the Department of Children and Families (DCF) can be placed for the first time in a child care facility from age 17 to age 20. By law, child care facilities are DCF-licensed congregate residential settings. The DCF commissioner can petition a court for permission to place a child committed to her custody in such a facility if the child cannot be satisfactorily cared for in a foster home because he or she has developmental or physical disabilities, mental illness, emotional issues, or behavioral disorders.
The commitment statute defines a child to include young adults 18 to 21 years old who attend a secondary school, technical school, college, or state accredited job training program full-time (CGS § 46b-129(j)). The act makes the definition of child care facility consistent with this definition of a child.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2012
OLR Tracking: KGD: RC: PF: ts