The Legislature recently passed a bill designed to offer more protection to victims of domestic violence. Governor Malloy is expected to sign the bill.
Here are the key provisions:
1. An arrest is mandatory for dating violence. Currently, the police have discretion as to whether those in a “dating” relationship should be arrested.
2. Those arrested for domestic violence must surrender their firearms to law enforcement or a federally licensed firearms dealer. As it stands now, offenders may surrender their firearms to friends or family members.
3. Allows victims of any age to petition for a restraining order against an offender of any age. The present law only permits a minor to request a restraining order against an adult offender.
The DCF Hotline number: 1-800-842-2288.
I get calls or emails occasionally from those wishing to make a report. Don’t contact me to make a report. Call 1-800-842-2288
Who should call? Anyone who has a “reasonable suspicion” that a child is the victim of abuse or neglect.
Who must call? Mandated reporters such as school personnel, doctors and counselors (just to name a few) are required to report suspected abuse or neglect of a child. Within 48 hours of making a report to the Hotline mandated reporters must complete a written report of suspected child abuse/neglect – DCF form 136. Mandated reporters who fail to report may be fined $500-$2,500 and will be required to participate in an educational training program.
The process: A DCF employee known as a “screener” or intake worker will field the call. They will gather information such as the identity of the family, age of the child, siblings, name(s) of the person(s) responsible for the child’s care and of course details concerning the alleged abuse or neglect.
The decision: Accept or non-accept? The screener must then decide whether the allegations merit some form of additional State involvement – an accepted referral. There were 95,000 Hotline calls received last year. 45,000 of these were accepted. About 11,000 of these calls led to full DCF investigations. If the caller fails to provide sufficient information or the allegation (even if true) does not qualify as abuse or neglect the call will be deemed a “non-accept.”
The investigation: The response time to commence an investigation will vary depending on the severity of the accepted referral. An emergency requires a 2 hour response time. For those investigations less urgent, there are 24 hour and 72 hour response times.
Penalty for false reports: Fine of $2,000, year imprisonment or both.
Connecticut DCF Attorney
I represent clients in DCF matters though out Fairfield County including those who reside in Easton, Fairfield, Monroe, Trumbull, Stratford, Bridgeport, Westport, Weston, New Canaan, Wilton, Norwalk, Darien, Stamford and Greenwich.
Please email me or call me in Stamford at (203) 356-1475 or in Fairfield at (203) 259-5251 for a consultation about a DCF matter. I get calls or emails occasionally from those wishing to make a report. Don’t contact me to make a report. Call 1-800-842-2288
PAS has been defined as “a mental condition in which a child, usually one whose parents are engaged in a high conflict divorce, allies himself or herself strongly with one parent, and rejects a relationship with the other parent, without legitimate justification.”
One argument in favor of PAS being recognized as a legitimate mental health disorder is the potential for increased medical insurance coverage for treatment of PAS. A further argument is that it’s recognition in the DSM will lend credibility to parental alientation in the divorce process.
Opponents of PAS being designated as a syndrome or disorder cite the lack of emperical research and that the behaviors of all family members, including those of the alienated parent, may lead to the family dysfunction and the rejection of one of the parents.
In Connecticut, our best interest statute does not mention parental alienation. However, amongst the factors a judge may consider in making parenting plan decisions include the willingness and ability of each parent to facilitate and encourage a continuing parent-child relationship between the child and the other parent. A judge may also consider any manipulation or coercive behavior of the parents in an effort to involve the child in the parent’s dispute. While not called PAS both of these factors have the smell of PAS.
Should parental alienation syndrome (PAS) be included in the new edition of the DSM?
Read an article on PAS here: http://www.slate.com/id/2294831/
A Montana lawmaker proposed legislation to require a couple with children under the age of 18 to attend seven sessions of counseling before being granted a divorce. He apparently wants couples to think twice (or seven times) before divorcing.
The idea of counseling is not a novel one. What is unique is seven mandatory sessions for every divorce case involving minor children.
In Connecticut, there are two procedures for court ordered “counseling” during the pendency of a divorce action:
1. During the ninety day waitng period either spouse, their attorney or the attorney for the minor children, may submit a request to the court that the parties attend two consultations with an individual experienced in marriage counseling to explore the possibility of reconciliation or to attempt to resolve the emotional problems which might lead to continuing conflicts following the divorce.
2. At any time before final divorce judgment, a judge has the authority to order either or both spouses, to appear before a disinterested person for the purposes of attempting reconcilation or an adjustment of their differences. However, in practice, judges rarely order such an attempt at reconcilation unless requested by one of the parties.
Connecticut does require parents to participate in a Parenting Education Program unless they are excused by the court. The goal of this program is not for the spouses to attempt reconciliation or to work out the differences within their relationship. Rather, this program is designed to provide information to the parents regarding the adjustment of children to the new parenting plan and parental separation, ways for the parents to resolve disputes and manage conflict, and to promote effective cooperative parenting.
By the way, the proposed Montana legislation was defeated by a 60-40 vote.
The Huffington Post recently listed the top ten cases which significantly impacted divorce law. These cases cover many areas of divorce law including alimony, pensions, relocation, foreign judgments, palimony and visitation rights for grandparents.
This a national list. In fact, no specific Connecticut cases appear on the list. However, some of these cases resulted in changes in the law here in Connecticut. The most notable being the Troxel decision regarding the inability of third parties to petition for visitation rights over the objection of a parent unless very specific criteria are satisfied.
The list appears here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/31/landmark-divorce-rulings-_n_868333.html#s284913&title=Diemer_v_Diemer
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Click It or Ticket (CIOT) campaign is in full force Memorial Day weekend, with police officers around the nation cracking down on those who “forget” to wear their seatbelts. Wearing a seat belt is the number one thing you can do to protect yourself should you be involved in a car accident – buckling up saves tens of thousands of lives each year. That is why signs around the country scream “buckle up” this week.
Yet, many of the seat belt culprits are too young to read the signs. According to a recent survey by Dr. Lilia B. Reyes at Yale Medical School, almost three quarters of children know how to unbuckle a seat belt by the time they are three years old – and more than 40 percent of children act on that knowledge by unbuckling their seat belts during the ride.
Telling your children to buckle up could mean the difference between life and death. Properly restraining children with safety belts and booster seats can increase their chances of surviving a car crash by 70-80 percent.
How can we convince our young children that buckling up is important? The threat of a ticket during the Click It or Ticket campaign won’t deter them. Parents, other grown-ups and older children are the key. Those that lead by example have the most impact – parents who buckle up send a signal to their children: this is important.
Many cars have alarms that beep when someone in the front seat unbuckles. There is a push to add the same feature for backseat passengers. Until then, parents must keep an eye on their preschoolers and other kids.