CT GOP Leaders Call for Action in Response to Latest Child Advocate Report

November 20, 2023

CT GOP Leaders Call for Action in Response to Latest Child Advocate Report - CT Senate Republic

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CT Republican Leaders Call for Action
in Response to Latest Child Advocate Report

Senate Republican Leader Kevin Kelly and House Republican Leader Vincent Candelora today released the following statement in response to an Office of the Child Advocate (OCA) report regarding the sexual assault of a developmentally disabled woman at a Department of Developmental Services-licensed group home:

“All is not well in state government, most notably agencies that are responsible for caring for our state’s most vulnerable residents. There are clear systemic breakdowns, the least of which is failure to relay critical incidents in a timely manner, or at all, as this latest report from the Office of the Child Advocate has revealed. The Governor and legislative Democrats cannot keep brushing off these serious issues. We must begin work on this crisis immediately in preparation for the start of the next legislative session to give us flexibility to act quickly if policy changes are warranted. To do otherwise would be irresponsible, if not negligent.”

Kelly and Candelora have sounded the alarm about recent cases involving vulnerable residents under state care, including a DCF- funded shelter in Harwinton and the tragic death of two-year-old Liam Rivera.

Kelly, Candelora and leading Republicans on the Committee on Children urged Governor Lamont in a letter last month to convene a panel that would dig into these issues and consider recommendations made by OCA.

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