Staffers Say DCF Biased - Petition Taken To Rowland's Office

The Hartford Courant ^ | June 18, 2003 | COLIN POITRAS, Courant Staff Writer

[LurkedLongEnough]

Charles Wiggins has been passed over for promotions so many times at the state Department of Children and Families that he's lost count.

Francis Davila and Kelcy Laing say they've witnessed the same thing - members of minorities being routinely denied advancement at DCF despite years of dedication and professional service.

Now, these leaders of the Black and Latino Coalition of DCF's North Central Region office in Hartford are challenging Gov. John G. Rowland and DCF Commissioner Darlene Dunbar to address what they claim is the agency's institutional discrimination.

[Bikers4Bush]

Sounds to me like they are already over represented in that agency based on recent census figures.

[harpseal]

They will not be satisfied unless and until there are no caucaision people left in the department.

[Bikers4Bush]

Kind of what I was thinking.

[LurkedLongEnough]

The automatic excerpting dismissed the best part, which comes at the end of the article.

Laing, an African-American social work supervisor and union steward, said opportunities for upper-echelon positions for blacks and Latinos are virtually non-existent. She says there is also a feeling among black and Latino staff members that once an office reaches a certain level of diversity, the chances for further advancement stop.

"It's like an unspoken quota," Laing said.