For the purposes of sections 46a-11a to 46a-11g, inclusive:

Terms Used In Connecticut General Statutes 46a-11a

  • Allegation: something that someone says happened.
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
  • intellectual disability: means a significant limitation in intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior that originated during the developmental period before eighteen years of age. See Connecticut General Statutes 1-1g
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.

(1) “Abuse” means the wilful infliction of physical pain or injury or the wilful deprivation by a caregiver of services which are necessary to the person’s health or safety;

(2) “Neglect” means a situation where a person with intellectual disability either is living alone and is not able to obtain the services which are necessary to maintain such person’s physical and mental health or is not receiving such necessary services from the caregiver;

(3) “Caregiver” means a person who has the responsibility for the care of a person with intellectual disability as a result of a family relationship or who has assumed the responsibility for the care of the person with intellectual disability voluntarily, by contract or by order of a court of competent jurisdiction. The legal representative of a person with intellectual disability need not be such person’s caregiver;

(4) “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Developmental Services, or such commissioner’s designee;

(5) “Evaluation report” means the written documentation of an investigation of abuse or neglect conducted by the Abuse Investigation Division of the Department of Developmental Services that includes, but is not limited to, the report of an allegation of abuse or neglect, evaluations, findings and recommended actions;

(6) “Facility” means any public or private hospital, nursing home facility, residential care home, training school, regional facility, group home, community companion home, school or other program serving persons with intellectual disability;

(7) “Legal representative” means a plenary guardian or limited guardian of a person with intellectual disability appointed pursuant to sections 45a-669 to 45a-683, inclusive, or a conservator of the person or a conservator of the estate appointed pursuant to sections 45a-644 to 45a-662, inclusive;

(8) “Person with intellectual disability” means a person who: (A) Has intellectual disability, as provided in § 1-1g, (B) is at least the age of eighteen and under the age of sixty, except, for purposes of subsection (b) of § 46a-11c, is eighteen years of age or older, and (C) is substantially unable to protect himself or herself from abuse and includes all such persons living in residential facilities under the jurisdiction of the Department of Developmental Services;

(9) “Person who receives services from the Department of Social Services’ Division of Autism Spectrum Disorder Services” means an individual eighteen years of age to fifty-nine years of age, inclusive, who receives funding or services from said division; and

(10) “Protective services” means services provided by the state or any other governmental or private organization or individual which are necessary to prevent abuse or neglect. Such services may include the provision of medical care for physical and mental health needs; the provision of support services in the facility, including the time limited placement of department staff in such facility; the relocation of a person with intellectual disability to a facility able to offer such care pursuant to § 17a-210, 17a-274 or 17a-277, as applicable; assistance in personal hygiene; food; clothing; adequately heated and ventilated shelter; protection from health and safety hazards; protection from maltreatment, the result of which includes, but is not limited to, malnutrition, deprivation of necessities or physical punishment; and transportation necessary to secure any of the above-stated services, except that this term shall not include taking such person into custody without consent.