Child‑safety advocates urge licensing and background checks for municipal camps; towns warn mandates could raise prices and cut access

Summary

At a Children’s Committee hearing, the acting child advocate and the Office of Early Childhood urged licensing or, at minimum, statutory background‑check requirements for municipal youth camps; municipal and state recreation officials warned that licensure would increase costs and could force some programs to scale back or close

Hartford — Testimony before the Committee on Children sharpened a debate over whether municipal summer and youth camps should be required to obtain state licensure and submit staff to the same background‑check rules that govern licensed child‑care programs.

Christina Guillot, acting child advocate in the Office of the Child Advocate, told the panel that Senate Bill 6’s provisions addressing camps and unlicensed child‑care settings aim to reduce risk to children by requiring background checks, criminal‑history reviews and checks of the DCF child‑abuse registry and the sex‑offender registry.

“Licensure is the gold standard for ensuring the safety of children in child‑care and camp settings,” Guillot said. “If licensure cannot move forward…the most foundational aspect of safety is background checks.”

Guillot urged that statutory requirements include state and federal criminal histories, the DCF central child‑abuse…

Child‑safety advocates urge licensing and background checks for municipal camps; towns warn mandates could raise prices and cut access

Summary

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