Fitch, M. E. (2023, November 22). DCF closes troubled STAR home in Harwinton. Inside Investigator. https://insideinvestigator.org/dcf-closes-troubled-star-home-in-harwinton/
Victims of institutional failures suffer severe damage, including sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and personal injury, highlighting the urgent need for accountability and reform in child welfare systems. According to a report written by Senior Investigative Reporter Marc E. Fitch, the Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF) has officially closed the Short-Term Assessment and Respite (STAR) Home for adolescent girls in Harwinton following a history of severe systemic failures. Operated by the DCF contractor Bridge Family Center, the facility underwent rapidly deteriorating conditions over the past two years that led to arrests of both residents and staff members. The staff were specifically arrested for physically and sexually abusing the vulnerable girls in their care. The volume of these crises severely strained Harwinton’s limited emergency services, prompting local leaders to demand state intervention. An informational hearing before the legislature’s Committee on Children and testimony from the Office of the Child Advocate further revealed that the shelter was inappropriately used for long-term placements of youth requiring higher-level behavioral and mental health care, instead of being used for its intended short-term care purpose. Harwinton First Selectman Michael Criss and state legislators stressed that merely shutting down this single location is a “band-aid” solution that fails to address the deeper, statewide dysfunction regarding how Connecticut houses and treats its most endangered foster youth.