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The child will turn 18yo in three-four weeks and has a voluntary services case with DCF. The guardian (a relative) refuses to house the child, the child is presently in a shelter, and DCF is saying that it is arranging for the child to transition to DMHAS services for housing (etc.) once she turns eighteen. I am the outpatient therapist. My question: can DCF transition a child to DMHAS who is not a ward of the state, or do the guardian’s rights have to be terminated first, with a subsequent petition for DCF to take custody, so that at the time of the child’s birthday she is a ward of the state? I worry that she will be homeless at eighteen, with services from neither DCF nor DMHAS. And the clock is ticking.
Marcia E. Brubeck, LCSW
Hartford, CT