HARTFORD – The death of an 11-year-old from starvation earlier in the year has spurred top Democrats to shine a spotlight on the state’s Department of Children and Families in the coming legislative session, raising concerns among Republicans that the effort at oversight will be used against families who choose to homeschool.
The co-chair of the Committee on Children told CT Examiner in recent interview that a top priority for the committee in 2026 would be to see “some reforms to DCF” especially after the death of 11-year-old Jacqueline ‘Mimi’ Torres-Garcia who was discovered in October in an abandoned home in New Britain. She had died of starvation.
State Rep. Corey Paris, D-Stamford, told CT Examiner that “with Mimi’s case, it is certainly pushing us to move this to the top of our priority list.”
That decision wasn’t well-received by either committee Republicans or by officials at Department of Children and Families.
State Rep. Anne Dauphinais, R-Killingly, a ranking member on the committee, told CT Examiner she believes some Democrats on the committee actually want to go after families that homeschool their children.
The department has maintained that its role in the death had been misreported.
The high-profile case of Torres-Garcia escalated the debate over regulating homeschooling, which some critics call lax. Police and school officials have said the girl died in the fall of 2024, weeks after her mother withdrew her from public school to homeschool her. The family, police have said, is believed to have kept her body in their Farmington home’s basement before moving it to New Britain in March 2025. The girl’s mother, the mother’s boyfriend and the girl’s aunt have all been arrested and face charges including murder and child cruelty.
Dauphinais said Democrats on the committee are less interested in reforms than “going after the homeschoolers.”
“I don’t agree with him whatsoever on that issue because what they want to do does no reform at all,” Dauphinais told CT Examiner. They are going after the homeschoolers, which had nothing to do with her death. And, by all accounts she may even have been dead before she was supposed to return to school that fall.”
Dauphinais said homeschoolers were horrified by the incident, but were being treated “like they are guilty and have to prove themselves innocent.”
“Obviously, we don’t want any child harmed and we would never want to see this again. I’m sure we will because we can’t stop evil,” she told CT Examiner.
Paris said he didn’t see it as a partisan issue and respected the right of parents to choose how to educate their children.
“The characteristic that Democrats are going after families who homeschool is just wrong,” said Paris. “I respect the parents’ right to choose the educational setting that works best for their children, including home schooling.”
Soon after the death of Torres-Garcia, DCF Interim Commissioner Susan Hamilton warned in a statement that it was “important to correct misinformation that is being publicly reported about our history with the family to ensure a thorough and accurate assessment of the system.”
In a statement responding to planned oversight, the department denied to CT Examiner that it had been involved with the family in recent years.
“The department had no involvement with Mimi-Torres-Garcia’s family for two years prior to her untimely and tragic death. However, we are always committed to ensuring our child welfare system is well-coordinated and supported to best protect children. We look forward to being at the table with Rep. Paris, and other system partners to build upon these important, ongoing conversations to improve the outcomes for the children and families we collectively serve.”
Paris said that “regardless of the specific timeline in this case, the fact that this child had prior interaction with the system, like many others, underscores the need to assess whether our safeguards are functioning as intended and why thoughtful legislation reform is essential.”
He said he looked forward to bringing all of the stakeholders to the table “to find comprehensive solutions to the challenges that children and families face.”
Paris, who will be entering his second year as committee co-chair, said he would be looking at the department’s staffing, caseloads and coordination with the courts.
“My role as chair of the Children’s Committee is not to assign blame, but it’s to ask the hard questions and make sure that our child serving agencies are equipped, that they are coordinated and that they are supported to do their jobs effectively,” said Paris. “This means looking broadly at workforce capacity, data sharing, caseloads, court coordination and how decisions are made when a child is already known to the system. … It also means ensuring that children who come to the attention of state agencies do not disappear from view simply because responsibility shifts between systems.”
A spokesperson for the department told CT Examiner that, as of Oct. 1, the agency employed 976 social workers and was in the process of hiring an additional 30.
Paris said it’s essential to have DCF take part in any conversation related to possible changes and or laws regarding the agency.
“We certainly don’t want to make decisions about the agency without having them at the table,” Paris said. “They have obviously indicated an interest in wanting to be at the table. … We set the policy, but we don’t want to set policy that’s absolutely going to be impossible for them to execute.”