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DCF outlines Vermont juvenile justice responsibilities, custody numbers and placement patterns
Summary
Department for Children and Families officials told a joint House Human Services and Judiciary committee meeting that DCF’s Family Services Division oversees both child welfare and juvenile justice in Vermont, that about 900 children were in DCF custody, and that the agency is increasing kin placements while handling heavy intake volumes.
Department for Children and Families Commissioner Chris Winters and deputy leaders told a joint Human Services and Judiciary committee hearing that Vermont’s child-welfare agency also operates the state’s juvenile justice functions and is responsible for supervision, custody and placements for youth in state care.
“Our goal is to make sure that children and youth in Vermont are safe from abuse and neglect, and that their basic needs are met,” Garrett Horatke, deputy commissioner of the Family Services Division, told the committees. He described the division’s mission as balancing child welfare goals with public safety while trying to keep children at home where possible.
Horatke said the Family Services Division (FSD) employs “over 400 dedicated and hardworking staff” and reported an operating budget of $148,000,000 for fiscal year 2024. He told the committees that the centralized intake call center (CIES) handled “over 19,000 reports” in 2024, mostly from mandated reporters such as educators, health-care workers and law enforcement.
Horatke said most children who enter DCF custody do so for reasons of abuse or neglect: “Our most current data shows that some 87 percent of children in DCF custody are there for reasons of abuse and neglect.” He added that children in custody live in a mix of foster homes (including kin), pre-adoptive homes and residential care.
The department highlighted a notable placement change in 2024: 34 percent of children in DCF custody were placed with kin, a rise the deputy commissioner described as a more than 10 percent increase from earlier years and “excellent work on the part of our family services workers.” Committee members asked the department to provide more detailed trend data by age, county and placement type.
Committee members also asked about the total number of juveniles under DCF custody. Horatke said the agency’s current count is “about 900 now.” He told lawmakers that the figure includes both children with child-protection cases and those involved with juvenile justice. He said roughly 10 percent of those in custody were in residential treatment and most were in foster or kinship care.
Several lawmakers asked for additional data the department committed to provide, including county-level counts, numbers of in-state versus out-of-state placements and trend data from 2020–2024. Horatke said specialized central-office teams visit youth in residential care at least monthly and that the department is tracking “churn” (how youth enter, how long they stay and where they go next) for new secure placements.
Ending: The DCF leaders urged the committees that the hearing was meant to “level set” current practice and provide a foundation for upcoming discussions on specific policy proposals, including “raise the age” changes to juvenile jurisdiction. Committee members requested follow-up data on placements, county breakdowns and program capacity to inform later deliberations.
