FWSN-advisorybd-repo.. - The Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance

States continue to struggle with the challenges of the JJDP Act. They are often faced
with lack of programs and services for children and their families. The frustrations
associated with this lack of resources led many states to use the authority of the courts to
provide supervision over these children.
“Despite these achievements, much work remains to be done. Many states have not developed
sufficient services to meet the needs of status offenders and their families and still use secure
detention to hold status offenders. Several states regularly detain youth for violating “valid court
orders (VCO), meaning that status offenders can be securely detained in they are in contempt of
court.”
“Addressing the Needs of Juvenile Status Offenders and Their Families” Participant Guide to the Live National
Satellite Broadcast produced by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) US
Department of Justice, the American Bar Association, Commission on Youth at Risk and the Family and Youth
Services Bureau, US Department of Heath and Human Services.
States, including Connecticut, while adhering to the letter of the law in not locking up
status offenders in detention facilities in the first instance, often placed status offenders in
their locked facilities as “violators” of court orders. This has led to an emerging national
movement to re-examine the way status offenders are being treated.
Status Offenders became known as children from families with service needs or
“FWSNs” in 1979. Children (under the age of 16) who commit non-criminal status
offenses such as running away, beyond control or truancy are handled differently in the
courts from the cases of children who commit delinquent acts, which are criminal in
nature. Both children charged with status offenses and children charged with delinquent
act have their cases heard in the Superior Court for Juvenile Matters.
Children and youth who are charged with status offenses cannot be held in a locked cell
or room at a police station and they cannot be placed in a juvenile detention center either
while the case is pending or after an adjudication.
Prior to October 1, 2007 certain post-adjudication options were available to the court in
FWSN cases that could ultimately lead to the child being treated as a delinquent offender.
For example, the court, after adjudication but prior to disposition, could place the child
under interim orders. Once a pre-dispositional study had been completed by probation
and a disposition of FWSN supervision had been ordered, the court entered final orders.
Violations of the court’s interim or final orders were considered “delinquent” acts. The
prosecutor or probation officer had discretion to file a delinquency petition charging the
delinquency offense of “violation of a court order.” The case was handled as a
delinquency case and had all the consequences and sanctions available in delinquency
cases, including pretrial placement of the child in detention and commitment to DCF as a
delinquent for up to 18 months, including possible placement in a secure, locked facility,
such as the Connecticut Juvenile Training School for boys.
Current law (§ 46b-120(8)), defines a FWSN child as “A child under the age of
sixteen…who:
86