Connecticut General Statutes
Chapter 319a - Child Welfare
Section 17a-116. (Formerly Sec. 17-44a). - “Special needs” child defined.

For purposes of sections 17a-116 to 17a-119, inclusive, and subsection (b) of section 45a-111, a “special needs” child is a child who is a ward of the Commissioner of Children and Families or is to be placed by a licensed child-placing agency and is difficult to place in adoption because of one or more conditions including, but not limited to, physical or mental disability, serious emotional maladjustment, a recognized high risk of physical or mental disability, age or racial or ethnic factors which present a barrier to adoption or is a member of a sibling group which should be placed together, or because the child has established significant emotional ties with prospective adoptive parents while in their care as a foster child and has been certified as a special needs child by the Commissioner of Children and Families.

(1972, P.A. 86, S. 1; P.A. 75-420, S. 4, 6; P.A. 77-614, S. 521, 610; P.A. 79-631, S. 65, 111; P.A. 86-330, S. 2, 9; P.A. 93-91, S. 1, 2.)
History: P.A. 75-420 replaced welfare commissioner with social services commissioner; P.A. 77-614 replaced social services commissioner with commissioner of human resources, effective January 1, 1979; P.A. 79-631 replaced commissioner of human resources with commissioner of children and youth services; P.A. 86-330 replaced definition of “hard-to-place” children with expanded definition of “special needs” children, effective April 1, 1987; Sec. 17-44a transferred to Sec. 17a-116 in 1991; P.A. 93-91 substituted commissioner and department of children and families for commissioner and department of children and youth services, effective July 1, 1993.
See Sec. 17a-118 re responsibility of Department of Children and Families for adoption assistance agreement and subsidy payment.
Term “placed” refers to process by which physical custody of a child is transferred to prospective adoptive parents and does not refer to process by which a child is given in adoption by a statutory parent, and children from other jurisdictions do not qualify as special needs children because their “placement” for adoption is not made by a Connecticut-licensed child-placing agency. 248 C. 672.

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