Report: NJ child welfare reforms mostly on track
By GEOFF MULVIHILL

Associated Press Writer

April 16, 2008

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J

New Jersey has made major strides toward fixing its long-troubled child
welfare system, increasing the number of adoptions and foster families and
reducing the number of children sent to out-of-state facilities, according
to a report released Wednesday.

The ambitious years-long overhaul plan for the Department of Children and
Families is gaining moral momentum as well as meeting its short-term goals,
according to the report from the Center for the Study of Social Policy, the
court-appointed monitor of the agency's progress.

"While it is equally clear that the system's expectations for high quality,
individualized and effective practice for every child and family it serves
have not yet been realized," the report's author, Judith Meltzer, wrote,
"there is increasingly a shared view that this goal is possible."

For years, critics said the state had failed to protect the abused and
neglected children in its care, but the issue gained widespread public
attention in 2003 when a boy was found dead in a Newark basement and then
four severely malnourished boys were discovered in a Collingswood foster
home.

Amid those high-profile tragedies, the state settled a lawsuit brought by
Children's Rights Inc., a New York organization who said the Division on
Youth and Family Services _ now an arm of the Department of Children and
Families _ was not protecting the children in its charge.

The process remained contentious for the first few years, though, with
court-appointed monitors finding that the culture of DYFS was not changing
quickly enough and Children's Rights pressing for faster, more drastic
reforms.

The tide began to turn in 2006 when former state Child Advocate Kevin Ryan
was put in charge of the child welfare system and the state agreed to a new
way to measure the reforms.

Three monitoring reports since then _ including the new one, which covers
the second half of 2007 _ said the state met most of its goals.

For example, the state arranged 1,540 adoptions last year _ 140 more than
its goal. It continued to hire social workers, which means more manageable
caseloads for those workers. It improved training for its workers and
started using a new computer system to track cases, according to the report.


While the latest report was encouraging, it also warned that changes in
leadership at the Department of Children and Families, or DCF, mean more
challenges are ahead.

In January, Ryan announced he was leaving his post to work for MCJ Amelior
Foundation, a charity that aims to help children in Newark and Africa. Some
other high-ranking staff members also left recently.

A replacement for Ryan has not been named.

The monitor said it's a fragile time to be getting a new commissioner with
reforms just beginning to take root.

The new leader also is a key concern for Children's Rights: "This report
sends the message loud and clear that the continued success of DCF hinges on
Governor Corzine's appointment of a new, permanent commissioner who is both
capable of building on DCF's accomplishments to this point and committed to
getting the job done," said Susan Lambiase, the organization's associate
director.

Starting in January, the monitor will report not only on whether the state
is taking the proper steps to fix the child-welfare system, but also on
whether the children in the system are faring any better.

___

On the Net:

New Jersey Department of Children and Families: http://www.state.nj.us/dcf/

Children's Rights, Inc: http://www.childrensrights.org

Center for the Study of Social Policy: http://www.cssp.org


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