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CT girls' group home executive defends facility abuse allegations in letter to lawmakers

Legislative Office Building in Hartford.
Tyler Russell
/
Connecticut Public
Legislative Office Building in Hartford.

The Children’s Committee held an investigative hearing Wednesday, on alleged child abuse and neglect at the Bridge Family Center’s STAR home in Harwinton. But no one from the Bridge Family Center showed up at the hearing.

Instead, Margaret Hann, Bridge Family Center’s executive director, sent a written testimony read by committee clerk Christian Talarski.

“On July 27, 2023, the Bridge was notified that our intake was closed as of May 31, 2023, and we had been placed on corrective action plan,” Hann wrote. “The increased acuity of the youth we serve, along with a statewide workforce crisis post pandemic has created a perfect storm for nonprofits.”

Records show incidents of sexual assault as far back as 2021, according Vannessa Dorantes, commissioner, Department of Children and Families (DCF). The Bridge is licensed by the DCF to house girls removed from their homes as a result of abuse, neglect or other high-risk circumstances.

State Rep. Liz Linehan, the committee's co-chair, expressed concern over the long history of allegations at the facility for girls.

Linehan, a Democrat, asked Dorantes if the multiple incidents were typical of STAR homes.

“What we saw that were atypical here, were those incidences that involved suspected child abuse or neglect that resulted in the special investigations,” Dorantes said. “So the SIU [Special Investigations Unit] investigations were out of the ordinary and were not normal.” 

No youth are currently living at the Harwinton center.

Sujata Srinivasan is Connecticut Public Radio’s senior health reporter. Prior to that, she was a senior producer for Where We Live, a newsroom editor, and from 2010-2014, a business reporter for the station.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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