The Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF) recently released a report outlining the progress made in updating its STTAR (Specialized Trauma-Informed Treatment Assessment and Reunification) homes.
DCF Commissioner Jodi Hill-Lily held a press conference last March, unveiling agency officials’ intent to enact sweeping changes to the homes in response to outrage surrounding the agency’s home in Harwinton. The Harwinton home was closed in November 2023 following an investigation by Inside Investigator, which outlined allegations of sexual assault, sex trafficking and an almost constant police presence as a result of the behavior of the home’s staff and teenagers alike.
“What we’ve created is a new model that provides critical changes to the children’s behavioral health system,” said Rep. Liz Linehan (D-Cheshire), then-Co-Chair of the Children’s Committee, at the March 2024 conference. “The new STTAR home is focused on trauma-informed treatment, which is one of our number one priorities in the children’s committee.”
The plan renamed the homes from STAR (Short Term Assessment and Respite) to STARR (Specialized Trauma-informed Treatment), and reallocated $6 million in DCF funds for the purpose of hiring and supporting additional supervisory staff and youth recreational programming, reduces the number of children in each STTAR home from six to five to allow more attentive care, the development of an expedited admissions process for youth approved to psychiatric residential treatment facilities (PRTFs) and the creation of two intensive transitional treatment centers (ITTCS).
“The ITTC programs will add an important resource to our statewide continuum of care,” said Hill-Lily, in an email to Inside Investigator. “It is intended that by providing this intensive stabilization resource to youth who are disrupting their current treatment setting, we can help prevent those youth from escalating to the point where progressively higher levels of care are needed.”
Hill-Lily said that DCF has negotiated contracts for the two ITTCs to be handled by the Waterford Country School, with one being a six-bed boys’ program and the other being a six-bed girls’ program. Hill-Lily said the ITTCs are currently projected to be opened and ready for intake by Oct. 1, 2025, and that the budget for each would be approximately $2 million, or $4 million in total. DCF’s report states that the agency has also provided an additional $125,000 to each of its providers’ contracts, for the purpose of hiring one additional staff member per program and for the funding of recreational activities.
Municipal officials and emergency responders in Harwinton complained that the constant emergency calls strained the small town’s resources, and a recent audit of DCF found that the agency’s controls and responses to runaway children were gravely insufficient. The report noted efforts DCF has taken to address both issues, such as increasing the number of meetings with providers to improve their safety strategies and reduce the number of calls, as well as to provide training on the agency’s new “missing from care” policy.
“Criteria for making a missing from care report was clarified with staff and law enforcement to minimize unnecessary emergency calls, reserving police resources for when law enforcement involvement is absolutely necessary,” read the report. “Some staff would call the police if an argument erupted between residents, or a youth didn’t behave in the home. DCF provided training to staff to deescalate those situations without police involvement.”
The report notes that officials have worked with the Solnit Center, a state-run PRTF managed by DCF, to create an expedited admissions process to remove youth from settings, such as STARR homes, when they’re disruptive. The report notes that “five youth from STARR programs” have already gone through this admissions process.
The report also states that each of the state’s STARR homes has reduced their intake level from six beds to five, except in the case of one provider, which manages two homes. DCF states the provider wished to keep one home at four beds and another at six, so that they could maintain single rooms for the children, a request that DCF approved. The report also noted that DCF issued a request for proposal for another STARR home to add female bed capacity, but it was unsuccessful.
“Efforts continue to identify a provider for this program,” noted the report. “Providers are hesitant to bid on this program given the challenges of the youth and the fiscal liability and public scrutiny they face.”
Hill-Lily told Inside Investigator that the agency will continue to meet with providers to “discuss continued program enhancements,” such as “identifying a care coordination resource specifically focused on youth in STARR programs,” finding ways to standardize and strengthen programming, and finding new ways to “recruit and retain qualified staff.”
“DCF continues to work with providers to improve the services being provided to the youth in STTAR homes and the larger behavioral health continuum,” concludes the report. “The goal of the Department is to provide safe living situations that allow children to thrive while treating their underlying behavioral health needs and return home to their families or other permanency disposition.”
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