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Ten years have gone by, but Lisa Vincent and her son, Jose, flash back to their goodbye with fresh anguish and faltering voices. He is 21 now, but the 11-year-old boy .. easily re-surfaces, all anger and confusion.
“I didn’t understand. I was under the assumption I was going back to her,” Jose says. “I felt that whole ‘she gave up on me like everyone else did.’ Now, I realize it wasn’t her. It was the system.”
Jay Sicklick, deputy director of the Center for Children’s Advocacy, said persuading parents to give up custody for care is “a patent violation of the statute that was enacted to prevent this,” referring to the law ensuring that parents can access appropriate services without committing a child to DCF. . . DCF has saved millions of dollars in the last five years by reducing group-care placements by 66 percent and out-of-state placements by a full 98 percent. If you’re told, ‘We won’t approve an acute-level program,’ what do you do? It’s a Hobson’s choice.”
Bonnie Berk
Communications Director
860-570-5327
Hartford – Bridgeport – New Haven
