The recent report issued by the Office of the Child Advocate (OCA) concerning “Baby Dylan” is deeply disturbing. OCA thoroughly documents the DCF institutional failures in this devastating report. It also included criticism of the lawyer representing “Baby Dylan,” a toddler who was a victim of both parental neglect and the institutional neglect of DCF. As I read this report, I couldn’t help but reflect on the changes made by this state’s legislature in 2010-2011 with respect to administering the funding of lawyers who represent parents and children in child protection cases.

In 2005, the legislature created the Office of the Chief Child Protection Attorney to administer, train and support lawyers who take child protection cases. The CCPA supported for the first time a cadre of lawyers who could concentrate solely on child protection cases in juvenile court and helped establish a certification process whereby the National Association of Counsel for Children would certify lawyers, through a bar examination, as Child Welfare Law Specialists (CWLS). This specialty was added to the specializations approved by the Judicial Branch. This meant for the first time in Connecticut, a career path in law included a specialization in child protection law.

Under the leadership of the first (and last) Chief Child Protection Attorney, a law firm was established in East Lyme through an RFP (request for proposal) for a model children’s law center and funded by CCPA. Its sole job was to represent children in child protection cases in the Superior Court for Juvenile Matters. The Southeastern Connecticut Center for Juvenile Justice (SECCJJ) opened June 2008 and hit the ground running. It was comprised of three lawyers and two child welfare advocates with administrative staff. Their representation of children was excellent and comprehensive. Their practice model included as routine the suggestions made by the OCA in her recent report. It was viewed as so successful that SECCJJ was asked to open another office to expand services to the Willimantic and Hartford juvenile courts, which it did.

In 2011, however, the state fiscal crisis, which resulted in Gov. Dannel P. Malloy combining numerous departments, also resulted in the legislature’s decision to terminate the position of the CCPA. As a direct consequence, when the Office of the Chief Public Defender was tasked with absorbing the responsibilities of the CCPA, SECCJJ lost its funding and closed its doors. Most importantly, the legislature’s decision to do an about face with respect to adequate funding for lawyers who practice child protection law effectively ended the concept of the CWLS in Connecticut.

I am confident that if “Baby Dylan” was a client of SECCJJ, his condition would never have reached the tragic stage it did. And by this statement, I am not suggesting that OCA has properly criticized “Baby Dylan’s” lawyer. I am telling you that the practice model that was in operation at SECCJJ was providing the full measure of advocacy that children and toddlers need and that OCA is recommending.

The difference is that OCA’s recommendations for how lawyers representing children should operate now is not based upon realistic expectations given the current funding provided to the Office of the Chief Public Defender. Lawyers can no longer concentrate their practices solely in child protection work and must take on other areas of practice in order to survive.

When Rep. Diana Urban convenes her own investigation by the House Committee on Children, one area of inquiry might be whether or not the decision to terminate the CCPA and destroy the concept of CWLS was consistent with her results-based accounting principles.

Penny wise and pound foolish; when it comes to children, talk is cheap.

Attorney Douglas J. Monaghan is an expert in child welfare law and past chairman of the Connecticut Bar Association's Child Welfare and Juvenile Law Section.