HARTFORD, Conn. -- A state-run home for boys with emotional and medical needs remains on the chopping block and the debate over the potential closing of the home heated up at the Capitol Friday afternoon.

Supporters of the home said that for decades, High Meadows in Hamden has given boys with severe emotional and medical needs a place where they can get 24-hour care without putting them in a private home of committing them to a place where other boys have been in trouble with the law.

High Meadow supporters came to Hartford for a hearing on keeping the home open, contesting the notion that there are other places boys can go. Rep. Elizabeth Esty, Cheshire, said, “It’s not enough to say, well, somewhere in the system there are beds, and we’ll match these kids up.”

Robert Genzano, a rehabilitation therapist, said, “They say there are enough beds. The fact is, 324 children of the state of Connecticut woke up out of state.”

Those points about High Meadows never made it on the record. After the Department of Children and Families made its case for closing the home, opponents were granted an extension on holding the rest of the hearing until next month while they attempt to gain official status as an intervener in the matter.