Late Tuesday afternoon, state lawmakers met with the Department of Children and Families to discuss the Kimberly Sullivan case. She’s the woman accused of keeping her stepson captive for two decades.
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I-Team: DCF visited home of Waterbury captivity case 6 times over 9 years; family pediatrician found “no concerns” for stepson at time
Late Tuesday afternoon, state lawmakers met with the Department of Children and Families to discuss the Kimberly Sullivan case. She’s the woman accused of keeping her stepson captive for two decades.
That meeting was kept private from the public and the media. DCF tells me they requested Tuesday’s meeting with the Committee on Children to discuss their months-long review of records related to the Kimberly Sullivan case and past case practice.
The Department of Children and Families just released some of that review to the I-Team, which included new information the public and media did not previously know.
DCF says their “evaluation included a detailed review of all records, reconstruction of the policies and procedures in place two decades ago (many of which have since been updated), and interviews with current staff who worked on the case.”
A spokesperson says the review found:
-Over the course of nine years (1996-2005), DCF received six reports about the Sullivan home. Each was investigated.
- Announced and unannounced visits, including after-hours home visits, were conducted in an effort to more effectively engage all family members.
- Each investigation involved assessing home conditions, and food availability was observed and documented at that time.
- When allowed, the children were interviewed alone and apart from their parents. The interviews resulted in no disclosure of abuse or neglect. DCF also noted that under Connecticut law at the time (C.G.S. §17a-101h), DCF was only authorized to interview a child without parental consent in cases involving allegations of abuse—not neglect which was the report made against this family. That law was amended in 2018 to include neglect cases.
- The DCF investigator contacted the child’s pediatrician, who noted no concerns. DCF was in ongoing communication with both the pediatrician and the school nurse to assess whether there was an underlying medical explanation for the child’s small stature and food seeking behavior.
- Based on the information available and the statutory requirements in place at the time, we did not have sufficient evidence to substantiate the allegations or remove the child from the home.
The I-Team was told by DCF that chairs of the Children’s Committee requested the meeting be private. Co-Chair, Representative Corey Paris tells me it wasn’t about secrecy, he says it was about “protecting the integrity of an ongoing and active criminal investigation” and that per state law, DCF can’t release all details because of family privacy laws and laws involving minors.
Previously, we knew from police reports that the alleged survivor knows as “S” was removed from Waterbury Public Schools at the age of 11. “S” told police, he was told to lie to DCF and say everything was fine when they visited the home. School staff had reported the Sullivan family to investigators after noticing the boy appeared to be constantly starving.
The I-Team spoke with both Representative Paris and Senator Jason Perillo who attended DCF’s briefing.
The consensus is that DCF did everything right at the time.
“We’re talking about the DCF 20 years ago, not the DCF of today - which has changed immensely given the powers that they had at the time, given their protocols, given how they go through overseeing many of these cases - they did everything that they were supposed to do above board during that time. But when a young person is taken out of the system or the parents refuse to allow for DCF to continue to come into their homes, there’s only so much that they can do,” says Representative Paris.
“I think DCF is trying to do the work that they need to do to get us some answers, to clarify solutions to problems they’ve identified. I think that where we were 20 years ago is not what we are today. I think we’ve already done some things since the statute that have helped to minimize the likelihood of this in the future, but I don’t think we’re there yet. I don’t think we can spike the ball. I think there’s work for the legislature to do. I think there’s work for the agency to do,” says Senator Jason Perillo.
State Senator Ceci Maher (D-Wilton), Senate Chair of the Committee on Children, also attended the meeting and released the following statement:
“As the ongoing, extremely disturbing Waterbury case proceeds, we need to understand how it evolved so we can better protect children now and in future circumstances,” said Sen. Maher. ”In an important conversation this afternoon, DCF provided increased transparency and described how their procedures have evolved over the last 20 years as well as promised to release a statement. I hope to receive more updates from them as more information is available with the ongoing legal case. I will continue working with colleagues and advocates to review and update our statutes for DCF and educational oversight to make sure horrors like these do not occur again.”
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