Center for Children's Advocacy

10/15/2026

Young people know what they need, and what would make their communities better. But too often, decisions are made without hearing from the young people who will be affected by them.

CCA’s Speak Up Teens are advocating to change that.

Speak Up! brings together Connecticut's youth who have been impacted by the juvenile justice system, the child welfare system, and students from systemically under-resourced schools who want to make their communities better, giving them opportunities to bring their experiences and ideas directly to legislators and other decisionmakers.

It's Youth Justice Action Month, and this year’s theme is Building a Future Where Youth Thrive. Building that future starts with listening to young people and giving them meaningful opportunities to help shape it.

▶️ Hear from Speak Up! youth in their own words.

10/14/2026

What happens when a child is ready to leave psychiatric care, but there's nowhere for them to go?

That's the reality facing a 17-year-old represented by CCA Child Welfare Project Director and Senior Attorney Josh Michtom, whose experience is at the center of a new CT Insider investigation.

Last week, CT Insider exposed alarming conditions at the Albert J. Solnit Children's Center. Now, its latest reporting follows this young person after clinicians determined she was ready for discharge and a judge ordered her release.

Without an appropriate placement available, she has spent weeks in a hospital emergency department, with brief stays in an emergency foster home, DCF offices, and a residential treatment program.

“She tells me all the time that she just wants to be in a home with a family, either her own or another,” Josh told CT Insider.

This is a crisis—and a failure of the systems responsible for protecting Connecticut's children. No child should be left in a psychiatric hospital or emergency department simply because the state has nowhere appropriate for them to go.

CCA is fighting for children like Josh's client while continuing to demand greater accountability, transparency, and investment in the placements and community-based supports children need to be safe and thrive.

Some patients have been deemed well enough to leave the facility, but have nowhere to go.

10/14/2026

This Hispanic Heritage Month, we are celebrating Make the Road CT. As a member-led organization, they are at the forefront of organizing immigrant and working-class communities to ensure their voices shape the future of our state.

Through grassroots organizing, community leadership, and advocacy, Make the Road CT helps families advocate for their rights and shape the decisions that affect their lives.

CCA has been fortunate to work alongside Make the Road CT on a range of issues affecting children and families. Together with other community partners, including ConnCAN, we've advocated for an English Language Learner Bill of Rights to strengthen educational opportunities and parent involvement, expanded access to healthcare for immigrant children, and supported efforts to improve access to safe, affordable housing.

These partnerships bring together community voices, lived experience, and legal advocacy to help create meaningful change.

Thank you to Make the Road CT for your leadership, partnership, and continued commitment to Connecticut's children and families!

➡️ Learn more about their work: https://www.maketheroadct.org/

10/13/2026

Navigating Connecticut’s Department of Developmental Services (DDS) can be complicated, but understanding the process can help families know what to expect and how to prepare.

CCA is currently challenging Connecticut’s strict IQ-based eligibility standard through litigation and legislative advocacy. While we work toward a fairer system, families navigating the process today still need clear information about what they can do now.

When should you apply for DDS services? What records should you keep? What happens after your child is found eligible? And what can you do if they’re denied?

CCA’s latest Q&A walks families through important steps in the DDS process, including how to prepare early, stay connected after an eligibility decision, and understand your options if your child is denied services.

➡️ Read the full Q&A for more information about accessing DDS services for your child in Connecticut: cca-ct.org/how-to-access-dds-services-for-your-child-in-connecticut/

10/08/2026

A Spring for Kids! auction experience turned into something even bigger: an opportunity to introduce more people to CCA’s work. 💙

Earlier this year, CCA Board Director Michael Powers helped secure a private group tour of the New Britain Museum of American Art for our Spring for Kids! auction.

The experience was won by CCA supporters Rob and Maureen Leighton, who recently gathered a group of friends for the private tour—and used the occasion as a “friendraiser” for CCA. Executive Director Sarah Eagan joined the group to share more about CCA’s work and the impact of our advocacy for children and families across Connecticut.

A huge thank you to Michael for making this special experience possible, and to Rob and Maureen for finding a creative way to bring new people into the CCA community.

We’re grateful for supporters who not only show up for CCA, they help introduce others to our work, too.

10/07/2026

A major victory for children and families working toward reunification.

In a case brought on behalf of a child represented by CCA, the Connecticut Supreme Court has strengthened an important protection for children in foster care and their parents.

The case, In re Dynastie D., centered on DCF’s decision to move a young child from the Connecticut caregivers she had known for nearly her entire life to relatives in Florida. Director of CCA's Child Welfare Project and Senior Attorney Josh Michtom appealed the decision on behalf of the child.

The Court affirmed that Connecticut law favors in-state placements and that, before a child is placed out of state, the impact on a parent’s ability to reunify with their child must be considered. That matters because distance can make visits, maintaining family relationships, and ultimately reunification much more difficult.

For children in foster care whose goal is to return safely to their families, this decision strengthens an important safeguard: an out-of-state placement cannot be considered without also considering its impact on the possibility of reunification.

We’re proud of Josh’s advocacy on behalf of his young client and of a decision that will help protect the rights of children and families across Connecticut.

10/07/2026

“The basics of safe care are absent… I don’t know how anyone could feel comfortable with their child in this facility at this point.”

That’s CCA Executive Director Sarah Eagan’s response to new investigative reporting from CT Insider about conditions at the Albert J. Solnit Children’s Center, Connecticut’s only state-run psychiatric hospital for children.

The findings are deeply alarming and demand action. The investigation raises serious concerns about conditions for children and staff: from unsafe physical conditions and staffing shortages to gaps in treatment, restraint and seclusion practices, and children remaining hospitalized long after they are ready to leave because appropriate community placements aren’t available.

CCA Child Welfare Project Director and Senior Attorney Josh Michtom sees the impact firsthand through his representation of a 17-year-old at Solnit whose behaviors have worsened during her time there. “She’s miserable now, and she wasn’t miserable then,” he told CT Insider. He described a cycle in which the highly restrictive environment can provoke the very behaviors that then lead to further restrictions.

Equally alarming is the lack of transparency. Independent monitoring reports detailing safety concerns and conditions inside the hospital have not been routinely shared publicly. CT Insider obtained them through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Children receiving psychiatric care—and the people caring for them—deserve safety, appropriate treatment, transparency, and accountability.

Staff shortages, employee injuries and building hazards have limited admissions at Solnit as UConn Health works to meet the terms of a consent order.

10/05/2026

More than 20 years ago, when she was a young lawyer, Sarah Eagan sat beside her sister in a state hospital and witnessed something she knew was wrong. She froze.

“I did not know how to stand up in that moment and say: this is wrong.”

In a deeply personal new opinion piece for the Hartford Courant, Sarah reflects on how that experience shaped the advocate she became—and why the treatment of people who depend on others for their care matters to all of us.

“These are not distant concerns. Vulnerable people are everyone. They are you. They are me. They are our loved ones.”

As Connecticut confronts serious concerns about institutional care, Sarah calls for transparency, accountability, and a willingness to learn from a long history of broken promises.

➡️ Read Sarah’s full piece below.

I am grateful that government can be capable of serving people who need help and support, if it keeps its promises and commitments.

10/02/2026

What does the children’s behavioral health workforce need to look like to meet the needs of children and families, now and in the future?

CCA Executive Director Sarah Eagan joined leaders from across New England at the 2026 New England Children’s Behavioral Health Network Fall Conference, focused on What’s Next for the Children’s Behavioral Health Workforce?

Sarah moderated the opening panel, “What Do We Mean by Workforce?”, bringing together experts from Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire to examine strategies for meeting the behavioral health needs of children and implications for a different kind of workforce, one that brings together a team of caring helpers, including peer support and community care managers, to not just address the symptoms that children present with but to support children’s health, wellness, and resiliency.

Thank you to the New England Children’s Behavioral Health Network for bringing together leaders from across the region to strengthen our shared understanding of the workforce children and families depend on.

📸: Child Health and Development Institute - CHDI

10/01/2026

Every number represents a child or youth whose life was changed by advocacy.

A child able to stay safely at home. A student able to return to the classroom. A young person connected to critical healthcare, housing, or education. An immigrant child with an advocate helping protect their rights.

These are just some of the ways CCA’s attorneys worked alongside children, youth, and families across Connecticut this year.

And direct representation is only one part of the story. What we learn from individual children and families helps CCA identify larger patterns, challenge systemic barriers, and advocate for changes that can improve outcomes for many more.

➡️ See the numbers, stories, and systemic change behind CCA’s work in our 2026 Impact Letter: https://bit.ly/4d4VGLr