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Is State's Training School Medical Fix A Secret? Hartford Courant Editorial Sep 24, 2014 http://www.courant.com/opinion/editorials/hc-ed-southbury-medical-plan-20140923-story.html Is it too much to ask that the state finally publicly release and implement a credible plan for addressing deficiencies in medical care at the Southbury Training School brought to the surface by the death of a developmentally disabled resident there two years ago? A draft plan is set to be released by the Department of Developmental Services sometime this week, but will it be made public? It must be, if DDS and the Southbury facility are to deserve the public's trust. In November of 2012, Jackie Kiley Jr., a longtime resident in his early 60s, died of a fungal infection after becoming increasingly sick over a period of weeks while under the care of doctors, dentists and nurses at Southbury. A state public health department investigation in 2013 found numerous deficiencies in Mr. Kiley's care. For two years, the dead man's sister and brother-in-law, Beverly and John Matakaetis of Newington, have been fighting for improvements in medical care for the remaining residents at Southbury. But the state's responses to their efforts to find out what is being done to improve care have been enshrouded in a miasma of bureaucratic secrecy. The public is kept in the dark. "We're just sitting here wondering what the hell is going on," Mr. Matakaetis said last week at a meeting of the Office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities, a watchdog group. He was talking to a representative of DDS who reportedly said very little about what her agency is doing to address the shortcomings identified by the public health department's investigation. The frustrated Matakaetises are considering filing a lawsuit. They are to be commended for their advocacy on behalf of Mr. Kiley and the other residents. It's time for DDS to fix what's broken at Southbury and let the public in on it. Although the Southbury Training School is scheduled for closing and has a declining population, each remaining resident deserves quality medical care. Foster kids struggle academically Amanda Cuda Updated 11:54 pm, Wednesday, September 24, 2014 http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Foster-kids-struggle-academically-5778261.php Excerpts from the Connecticut Voices For Children report on the academic performance of children in the foster care system. In the 2012-13 school year, in every tested subject students in foster care were less likely to receive a score of "proficient" on standardized tests than the average Connecticut student. The majority of children in foster care, 56 percent, attended one of Connecticut's Alliance Districts, the 30 school districts with the lowest average standardized-test scores. Children in the care of the Department of Children and Families were four times more likely than the average Connecticut student to have an identified special education need -- 48 percent, compared with 12 percent. DCF-involved children were more than twice as likely as the average Connecticut student to have missed more than one out of every 10 days of school -- 24 percent, versus 11 percent. Children in foster care were more than three times as likely to receive an in-school suspension, and nearly six times as likely to receive an out-of-school suspension, as the average Connecticut student. * Connecticut children in foster care are more likely to miss school, perform poorly on standardized tests and be suspended or expelled from school. That's according to a new report from Connecticut Voices for Children<http://www.ctpost.com/search/?action=search&channel=local&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Connecticut+Voices+for+Children%22>, a research-based policy think tank, which examined data from the state Department of Children and Families<http://www.ctpost.com/search/?action=search&channel=local&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Department+of+Children+and+Families%22> and the Department of Education<http://www.ctpost.com/search/?action=search&channel=local&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Department+of+Education%22> to determine how students in foster care fared academically during the 2012-13 school year. The results show that children in foster care were less likely to receive a score of "proficient" on standardized tests than the average Connecticut student. Students in the foster system were also four times more likely than their peers to have an identified special education need, twice as likely to have missed more than one out of every 10 days of school, three times more likely to receive an in-school suspension and nearly six times more likely to receive an out-of-school suspension. The findings confirm what advocates have suspected for years, said Kenneth Feder<http://www.ctpost.com/search/?action=search&channel=local&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Kenneth+Feder%22>, policy analyst for Voices for Children. "Many of the young people we've worked with have told us that they struggle," Feder said. "There's only about 4,000 kids in (state care) in the entire state, but they have serious, serious needs." While conventional wisdom indicates kids in these situations are likely to do poorly in school, there hasn't previously been a thorough examination of the academic history of Connecticut children in the foster care system. In a joint statement, DCF and the Department of Education said the findings of the Connecticut Voices report "are a concern for all of us ... One of our highest priorities is to help provide every student the opportunity for a high-quality education -- regardless of ZIP code or life circumstances." Feder pointed out that the students might not have been in foster care during the school year studied, but they were in care as of Sept. 1 of this year. He said, regardless of when the students were in services, "we think this reflects the academic performance of the type of student who ends up in the care of DCF." The research also showed students in foster care are more likely to attend schools in Connecticut Alliance Districts<http://www.ctpost.com/search/?action=search&channel=local&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Connecticut+Alliance+Districts%22> -- the 30 school districts (including Bridgeport) with the lowest average performance on standardized tests. Yet even in these low-performing districts, Feder said, students who weren't in foster care did better than those who were. Other advocates said the findings in the report are troubling, if not necessarily surprising. "The numbers are staggering," said Mary Pat Healy<http://www.ctpost.com/search/?action=search&channel=local&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Mary+Pat+Healy%22>, executive director of the Bridgeport Child Advocacy Coalition<http://www.ctpost.com/search/?action=search&channel=local&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Bridgeport+Child+Advocacy+Coalition%22>. "This signals a lot of work that needs to be done." Yet, she said, the findings aren't a shock given research the coalition has done in the past. "If you look at children in Bridgeport and the challenges that they face, children in the foster care system face even more challenges," Healy said. Connecticut Voices offered several recommendations for addressing the academic troubles of students in state care, including providing DCF with educational staff that would train foster parents to support children academically. Other recommendations include early identification of special needs in children in foster care and requiring schools to designate liaisons responsible for meeting the needs of students in foster care. DCF and the state Education Department said in their joint statement they are already working on this problem in many ways, including increasing funding and involvement with "chronically struggling districts." The state agencies said they are also working to keep foster children in the same schools, even when their living arrangements change, to give them a sense of continuity. "Much work remains to be done," the statement reads. "But we are committed to continuing our efforts to improve outcomes for Connecticut children in the state's care and prepare them for lifelong success." http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Foster-kids-struggle-academically-5778261.php