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Dan Malloy on Families & Children |
"By the way," he said, pausing for a long beat, "One of my own sons suffers from mental health challenges. I have some expertise in this area personally." He quickly retreated back to the more comfortable terrain of government policy. Malloy has never been big on Oprah-style expressions of emotion.
In 2009, when Malloy was still mayor of Stamford, his then-21-year-old son Ben was arrested in connection with an attempted robbery. At the time, Malloy and his wife, Cathy, released a statement saying their son suffered from an "emotional illness." The Malloys recounted their middle son's struggle with what they said was a form of depression.
With the help of some great teachers, he's already caught up to his peers. His experience has put him on equal footing, and given him the tools he needs to learn. Let's help more kids like Andrew by moving our state to universal pre-K.
It will be a long and thoughtful process, but if you believe as I do that education is the civil rights issue of our time, then I ask you to join me today in taking the first steps toward making sure every child has access to a pre-K experience.
This would build on our important work begun last year to create the Office of Early Childhood. We need to finish that work by codifying this Office in statute. I am ready to sign that legislation.