By Mary Welander
State Rep, D-114
Mary Welander
It is past midnight on the morning of Friday, April 28, and we just wrapped up another long, productive day of the legislative session. I am so incredibly proud of the bipartisan work that was done this week that I had the honor to be part of.
As I have shared in the past, one of my main priorities has been on the mental and behavioral health of children and families. Since last November I have been part of a small, bipartisan working group that has been looking for solutions to address the short-term, intermediate and long-term concerns surrounding this issue.
We looked at increasing access to care and creating programs that allow families to receive support when seeking treatment. We were incredibly focused on workforce development because we recognized that Connecticut has an existing problem in provider availability in some areas, and increasing the ability of people to seek care won’t be of any help if they aren’t able to get an appointment.
While we weren’t able to implement all of the proposals we developed, we did create a monumental piece of legislation (HB 5001) that passed out of the House unanimously and which may be the most comprehensive children’s mental health legislation in the country. I can say without exaggeration that what we wrote in this bill will save lives. I am exceptionally grateful to have been a part of this process.
Another piece of legislation that just passed out of the House, again unanimously, was a proposal that I created alongside my Republican colleague Rep. Pat Callahan (108th District) to address the very serious concern of online exploitation and abuse of children (HB 5468). In 2020, a record 21.7 million reports of alleged online exploitation were made to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. This abuse is not limited to one demographic, one geographic area, one gender or any one “type” of family; it is happening more and more often and too many children are being harmed.
This legislation created a new class A misdemeanor and defined the parameters of harmful online communication with a minor so that law enforcement will be able to capture the predatory adults who have been able to evade the justice system in the past. In combination with a task force I created that will look at how and where these crimes are being reported across the state, the prosecution rates and potential prosecutorial roadblocks, we will have a better understanding of how this abuse is happening and ensure that law enforcement has enough personnel and resources to enforce these new laws that I hope will pass the Senate soon.
I would like to thank a local advocate, Roo Powell, and her nonprofit organization Safe from Online Sex Abuse for the insight and expertise provided in this process. If you would like information about resources and supports available, you can visit sosatogether.org or contact me at mary.welander@cga.ct.gov.