The Department of Children and Families (DCF) has elected to close the Short-Term Assessment and Respite (STAR) Home for adolescent girls in Harwinton, following disclosure of years’ worth of troubling incidents that culminated with an informational hearing before the legislature’s Committee on Children.
“The decision was made not to maintain a Short-Term Assessment and Respite (STAR) home in Harwinton,” DCF Commissioner Vanessa Dorantes said in an emailed statement. “Along with our community partners, we continue to review all aspects of our service provision for those children and families we serve. Alternatives for this site will be proposed at a later time.”
The home sheltered upwards of six girls in DCF custody who had been removed from troubled family situations, but over the past two years conditions at the home had deteriorated, resulting in numerous arrests of both the girls living there and staff who were arrested for both physical and sexual abuse of the girls.
The numerous incidents proved overwhelming for State Police and emergency services in the small town, which only had two ambulances and resident state trooper, when many of the incidents required multiple ambulances and state troopers.
Local leaders and EMS officials reached out to DCF several times regarding the home. Following meetings between local officials and DCF, the shelter was emptied of all but one girl over the summer.
“I think it’s a right move in the right direction, shutting down this particular location,” said Harwinton First Selectman Michael Criss. “However, I hope it’s not where their investigation stops, because I feel there are many, many issues with the STAR Bridge group homes that need to be uncovered and investigated. The entire system needs to be revamped.”
“At the end of the day, the goal wasn’t to close the house down, it was to provide better service, better opportunity and better future for these endangered girls and boys in this program, because we are not doing enough, at all,” Criss continued.
The STAR Home was operated by Bridge Family Center, a nonprofit organization and DCF contractor that operates three other such shelters for girls and boys in Connecticut. The Bridge Family Center is also facing a lawsuit by the family of a girl who was housed at the STAR Home in Harwinton during the final months of its operation.
The Bridge Family Center said they had contracted with outside consultants to take corrective action and DCF said they would reassess the STAR Home after assessing the corrective plan and determining the Bridge was “in a position to offer optimal care to our kids.”
Dorantes and a team from DCF testified at length during the Committee on Children’s informational hearing, indicating that incidents with the girls housed at the STAR Home were typical — acting out and running away — but that the number of staff incidents of abuse was an outlier.
The informational hearing also saw brief testimony from the Office of the Child Advocate, whose report found the STAR Home were being used to shelter girls who could not be placed with foster families or in group homes with higher levels of care, resulting in long stays at a home meant only for short-term residence.
The disclosure of the incidents and challenges facing the Harwinton STAR Home raised several issues about how Connecticut cares for children and youth who have been removed from their families and are facing behavioral and mental health challenges.
Criss, who was not afforded a chance to speak during the informational hearing, said he believes an independent committee should be formed to examine Connecticut’s group home system for youth – something he’d be more than willing to help with.
“The problems aren’t going to go away with just closing one house, they’re just going to shift,” Criss said. “This is putting a band aid over a big problem. Putting a band aid over the problem isn’t a solution
Children’s Committee chairwoman, Rep. Liz Linehan, D-Cheshire, said the informational hearing held on October 11 was only the first and she expected to hold more hearings in the future.
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I was at this group home January 2018 to August 2018. My roomate and I were brutally jumped and sent to the hospital a week after I turned 14. I spent 9 months in that hell hole and I’m glad to hear it got shut down. The staff did nothing to protect us. We ran into their office and they let the other girls come in and attack us with staplers, coffee cups, a phone, etc. I WAS A CHILD. DO BETTER. while I was in the hospital, they allowed the girls to destroy our room and personal belongings that were never ever replaced.. I still have nightmares about it. I got bashed in the head with a flute, thrown around, smashed against a door, and no one did ANYTHING. I couldn’t even press charges because they weren’t adults.. the system is so messed up it’s not funny. Please keep investigating these places.. they are not safe.