Incarcerated youth will be able to maintain connections with family.

Public Act 21-54 allows incarcerated youth to make free phone calls to family.

Advocacy for this change was ignited by youth who had experienced the challenges of reentering society after time in prison. The youth described to CCA attorneys how maintaining relationships with family is critical for reentry, but the exorbitant cost of prison phone calls to family prevented them from maintaining regular contact. When they were released from prison, youth often returned to disrupted relationships and limited support systems.

CCA’s advocacy focused on incarcerated youth, but CCA framing of this issue as important for reduced recidivism helped move the entire conversation forward to expand the population that benefited: the legislation that was passed provides free phone calls to family from incarcerated adults as well as youth.

CCA’s reentry publications provide information important to youth released from incarceration:

• - record erasure
• - school reentry rights of minors 
• - school reentry rights of youth 18 and older 

For more information, please contact Adam Yagaloff.

Reforms to the juvenile justice system will increase developmentally appropriate services to reduce future justice system involvement.

CCA attorneys and youth advocates served on the Connecticut Legislature’s Juvenile Justice and Policy Oversight Committee (JJPOC) and its five Subcommittees, advocating for systemic reforms to the juvenile justice system. Reforms recommended by the JJPOC and passed into law this year include measures that:

- Raise the minimum age at which children can be brought into juvenile court jurisdiction to 10 years old
- Improve educational services for youth in juvenile justice facilities and youth transitioning to home schools
- Require the Judicial Branch to provide record erasure information to youth and parents when a youth is discharged
- Transfer responsibility for securely housing youth under age 18 from the Dept. of Corrections to the Judicial Branch

For more information on juvenile justice systemic reforms, contact Marisa Halm.

Youth will be able to protect themselves from HIV without pressure to disclose sexual orientation.  

In 2019, CCA advocacy helped create a law that ensures youth can access PrEP, an HIV prevention medication, without parental consent. This year, we successfully advocated to close a gap in confidentiality protections for youth.

Public Act 21-22 allows minors who are insured on their parent/guardian’s commercial insurance policy to ask that an Explanation of Benefits (EOB) be suppressed or sent to a personal email or address if the service/treatment is confidential and protected by law. Our testimony in support of this important legislation may be found here. 

To request a preview of CCA’s Adolescent Health Care: Legal Rights of Teens, visit our publications page.

For more information, please contact Jay Sicklick.

Youth who are homeless can get State I.D. and birth certificate required to meet basic needs.

Brianna, age 17, was forced out of her home by family violence, and started “couch surfing,” staying for a few nights with a series of friends. She began looking for a job but soon realized she couldn’t get a job without a birth certificate and Connecticut I.D. She had to put her job search on hold until she could find someone to pay for those documents.

Public Act 21-121 ensures that youth experiencing homelessness, including youth who are doubled up and couch surfing, have access to free state I.D.s and birth certificates.

CCA’s youth organizers – Jacqueline, Matthew, Nathaniel, Tania and Reyna – who had personal experience with homelessness, provided compelling testimony to the State Legislature that helped push this law through to passage.

“It is not easy to be homeless and it’s more difficult when we don’t have the proper documentation required to get benefits like medical insurance, food stamps, jobs, housing, and even education…. A birth certificate is a primary document you need for almost everything. If you don’t have a birth certificate you can’t get a State ID, which you need for a job.”
– Reyna, in testimony to the legislature's Public Health Committee

For more information, please contact Stacey Violante Cote.

CCA Attorney Kathryn Meyer, with Abraham Febus, a graduate of Bullard-Havens Technical High School in Bridgeport. inspi

Youth with disabilities will have increased opportunities to attend Connecticut technical schools.

CCA heard many stories from youth and parents about youth who wanted to attend a technical high school but were discouraged from applying, or outright rejected, due to a disability that a school could easily accommodate. Public Act 21-144 revamps the technical school admissions process for students with disabilities so they have a fair opportunity to attend.

After graduating from high school, youth with disabilities face unique challenges in post-secondary settings, but post-secondary programs are required to provide accommodations to ensure that youth who are disabled have the same opportunity as their non-disabled peers. Read about those legal rights here. 

For more information, please contact Kathryn Meyer.

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