Child welfare advocate: Connecticut’s DCF must improve, get more funding 

The revelations continue on day two of the probable cause hearing for Jonatan Nanita, one of three people connected to the death of 11-year-old Jacqueline “Mimi” Torres-Garcia.

Something revealed through testimony was that a Department of Children and Families (DCF) worker, who was working with the family during a sibling’s neglect case, checked on Mimi via a video call.

Except that the person on the other end of the call was not Mimi, who was believed to have been dead for a year by that point. Instead, the social worker unknowingly spoke with a woman in her 20s pretending to be the 11-year-old.

NBC Connecticut spoke with Sarah Eagan, the state’s former Child Advocate and now head of the Center for Children’s Advocacy in Hartford, about the incident.

“That’s hard to reconcile, right?” Eagan said. “The timeline is really important […] as to when folks should have discovered–whether through the school system, child protection system, or other–what happened to Mimi Torres.”

Eagan said this case helps underline how DCf, while no longer under federal oversight, still faces major challenges.

“It’s not because they’re not trying,” Eagan said. “They need a lot of help to turn that ship around.”

Eagan recently wrote an op-ed, highlighting two reports about the DCF issued last summer; one by the state, another by the federal government. One of the reports outlined more than 3,000 incidents of children in DCF custody going missing over two years.

The other report stated the state didn’t meet the safety and well-being benchmarks of children involved with DCF.

“This is a system, in my view, that is really on the brink workforce-wise, service-wise, foster care availability-wise, practice-wise–and that really has to concern us as stakeholders,” Eagan explained.

Eagan said the biggest way to help fix the issues is with more funding.

“If we want to hold DCF accountable for fulfilling the state’s legal obligation to ensure the safety of children like Mimi Torres, they need the tools,” Eagan said.

She said millions more are needed, probably tens of millions. Eagan highlighted the upcoming short legislative session, during which budget adjustments can be made, which could be helpful.