The move came a day after a report was released on misconduct at DCF-run facilities.
Connecticut Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano is calling for the resignation of Joette Katz, Commissioner of the Department of Children and Families. This follows a report revealing urgent safety problems at two state-run juvenile detention facilities.
Fasano, of North Haven, said Thursday that Katz's "autocratic leadership and misplaced priorities" have undermined her office and put children at risk.
"That report shows that there is violence against children unnecessarily, a lack of counseling, and punishment methods that at the very least are draconian, and perhaps, some could argue, are simply cruel," Fasano said.
Others in the state legislature expressed their continued confidence in Katz's work and leadership. Representatives spoke to The Connecticut Mirror:
"Given the challenges that she faces, she is doing a remarkable job," said Rep. Diana Urban, D-Stonington. "I have a lot of confidence in the direction that she is taking the department…The youth that are in these facilities are some of the most difficult youth to rehabilitate. And I know there are youth that are sometimes a danger to the workers."
"Under Joette Katz this agency has made vast improvements. She is taking this agency in the right direction," said Sen. Danté Bartolomeo, D-Meriden. "We as a state have not been funding her agency enough for her to turn the agency around…We are continuing to handicap the system. We are tying her hands."
The state child advocate's report said that boys and girls at DCF-run detention facilities, Connecticut Juvenile Training School, and the Pueblo Girls Unit, have been subjected to unlawful and repeated use of restraints and isolation.
WNPR's Ray Hardman reported that Connecticut's Child Advocate Sarah Eagan's office spent 18 months reviewing facility videotapes, incident reports, and other records at both facilities. Eagan first called for an investigation of the Pueblo Girls Unit in September 2014, after it opened in March of that year.
Governor Dannel Malloy's office stood behind Katz. Mark Bergman, a spokesman for Malloy, accused Fasano of firing off an "ill-informed, misguided attack" without a serious plan to fix the problems, and credited Katz with making "real progress."
Fasano said he'd like to see the formation of an independent board to review DCF, and an ombudsman appointed to work with it.
Diane Orson and WSHU Public Radio contributed to this report, which contains information from The Associated Press. Nicole Wetsman is an intern at WNPR.
