The Senate passed an amended bill during their April 10 session intended to ensure children in a residence that has a safety plan established by the Department of Children and Families (DCF) receive visits during times when a home is under quarantine or isolation.
The text of the raised bill requires DCF to conduct an in-home home visit to a house under a safety plan, defined as a plan to address behaviors by parents or guardians that create unsafe conditions for children in the home, if the plan indicates the parent or guardian had a substance abuse disorder.
An amendment to the bill, however, removed the reference to parents or guardians with substance abuse disorders, expanding the requirements for DCF to conduct in-home visits to all homes with a safety plan. It also stipulated that in-home visits would be conducted via video or teleconferencing if any resident of the home is subject to quarantine or isolation as a result of a public health emergency declared by the governor.
Speaking on the Senate floor, Sen. Ceci Maher, D-Wilton, said the amendment tightens up the bill by making sure that any family that has a safety plan will be paid an in-person visit to make sure they are following the plan. She added that it also puts in place a requirement that workers will have a telephone or video visit if there is a need for quarantine.
Sen. Rob Sampson, R-Wolcott, spoke in opposition to the amendment. Sampson said he shared the bill sponsors’ desire for safety but was concerned with a line in the bill that ties virtual visits to individuals in quarantine with the governor’s ability to declare a public health emergency.
Sampson said the governor has the power to declare a public health emergency any time he wants and referenced Connecticut’s state of emergency during the COVID-19 pandemic, which he characterized as lasting beyond any real emergency to public health. He referenced Gov. Ned Lamont extending the public health emergency over COVID-19 through 2022 so that the state remained eligible for federal aid.
Sampson worried that if a similar situation arose in the future, the amendment would mean that in-home visits for houses with safety plans would automatically become virtual visits.
The amendment passed the chamber by a vote of 27 to 8 and a vote on the bill as amended passed by a vote of 34 to 0.
Both Sarah Eagan, the State Child Advocate, and DCF officials testified in favor of the text of the original bill at its public hearing. Eagan’s testimony also repeated previous statements asking for the role of telework by DCF staff to be examined.
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