© 2024 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY · WNPR
WPKT · WRLI-FM · WEDW-FM · Public Files Contact
ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Connecticut Child Advocate Issues Scathing DCF Report Following Neglect Case

Chion Wolf
/
WNPR
Sarah Eagan - Connecticut's Child Advocate
"It is a stunning, staggering tragedy."
Sarah Eagan

Connecticut’s Department of Children and Families has come under fire after a child, placed with a foster parent, was found near-starvation. DCF placed the 18-month-old, known as Dylan, with a relative who’s now been charged with neglect and abuse. 

Child Advocate, Sarah Eagan, released a lengthy report of the case citing multiple institutional failures and omissions on the part of DCF. During an appearance on WNPR’s Where We Live the child’s biological mother called into the show.

"My kids were never abused in the home or neglected, but yet they put him somewhere where he was," she said. "I have plenty of family members who have tried to step up in his case, but DCF has never wanted to listen to us. As we all know, they don’t even document what’s going on."

Dylan and his siblings were removed from their parents’ care last year due to concerns of escalating and chronic neglect, according to the state’s child advocate. They were separated and put into different homes. Dylan was placed with a relative of the mother and removed after the foster parents’ failed to keep appointments.

Child advocate Sarah Eagan said it was the new foster mother who took Dylan to the hospital.

"He was just globally battered, injured, maltreated, malnourished, starving to death," Eagan said. "It is a stunning, staggering tragedy. And a staggering collapse of a series of safeguards that all failed and that’s what has to be looked at."

Eagan said the report is not an indictment of everything DCF does or an indictment of kinship care, which she supports. But, Eagan said, this case represents, among other things, a cultural warning sign about how risk is being assessed.

DCF’s commissioner, Joette Katz, told The Hartford Courant Dylan’s case was an outlier.

Katz was invited to appear on the show, but declined.

Lori Connecticut Public's Morning Edition host.

Stand up for civility

This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.

We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.

Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play.

Related Content