Recent Letter of Support

Dear Governor Rell:

I am a licensed foster care provider, one of your “Kid’s Heroes.”  I have adopted two medically complex kids, now ages 11 and 7, a boy with ADHD, now 14, and another boy, now 12, who is on a full academic scholarship at Renbrook.  We live in West Hartford; not too far from you.

I just heard that you have cut Covenant to Care for Children (CCC), a line item in the DCF budget; an amount less than $200,000.  I don’t understand that.  That DCF contract with Covenant to Care for Children helps nearly 25,000 of Connecticut’s most vulnerable children every year.  Four of these have been mine.  But, the outcome for 60 to 70% of these kids is that they are not removed from their homes.  CCC brings goods and services to kids who are often neglected due to extreme poverty, so they have what they need while staying in their homes with their parents.  A 2001 study by St. Joseph College estimated that preventing so many kids from coming into State placement saves the State about 34 million dollars.  Further, for every one of the dollars you want to “save” by not continuing to contract with CCC, CCC brings almost $7 to these vulnerable kids.

So, if you are trying to save some money, even if you don’t care about these kids (and I know you do), it doesn’t make any financial sense to end this contract.  If you do, there will be no more Covenant to Care for Children.  That is not a threat—its just that the private sector already heavily leverages these State dollars and that revenue stream is drying up in this economy.  I’m not sure where social workers will go to get clothes and school supplies for foster kids that have already used their $300 lifetime allotment from the State, which was used when they were initially placed, now they need to be placed again, and they have nothing that fits and nothing they need for yet another new school.

Thanks for reconsidering.

Gerald Dillenbeck
860-543-2958
194 Mohawk Dr
West Hartford, CT  06117