New Jersey Child Welfare Lawsuit Does Nothing For Children Who Have Suffered

If the New Jersey child welfare system is "light years" better than a decade ago, as opined by a federal judge, does this not lead one to believe the children severely suffered?

So why has no one addressed the harms of the children who lived through this hell?

When are these children, who are now adults, going to be made whole?

Who cares, children have no civil rights, right?

N.J. child welfare system 'light years' better than a decade ago, judge says

NEWARK — New Jersey's child welfare system thursday received its 15th report card in nine years evaluating its transformation from a money-starved, mismanaged bureaucracy to one that a federal judge described as "light-years" better than it once was.

Like other monitoring reports, however, the Department of Children and Families is meeting about half of the goals contained in the settlement a class-action lawsuit that alleged neglect of thousands of foster children. Federal monitor Judith Meltzer and her team at the Center for the Study of Social Policy, a Washington D.C. think tank, concluded the department met 19 of 43 requirements from January 2014 to June 2014, showed progress in eight areas, and missed the mark on 16 others.

"Although there remain important...outcomes still to be achieved, the Department of Children and Families has demonstrated it is a system that is continually trying to improve itself," according to the 200-page report Meltzer submitted to U.S. District Court Judge Stanley R. Chesler in Newark before a hearing this morning.

Shortcomings included:

• Rising caseloads among staff who investigate child abuse claims and supervise foster children waiting to be adopted.

Unmanageable caseloads was one of the most vexing problems that drove the state to accept outside monitoring following the death of 7-year-old Faheem Williams, whose body was found in a relative's closet in January 2003, almost a year after his family's caseworker lost track of him.

• Too many children whose parents have been deemed unfit were waiting too long — more than 60 days — for court and child welfare employees to begin making them available for adoption.

• Too few young adults who had "aged-out" of foster care without getting adopted had enrolled in school or found a job, and a place to live. The goal is 95 percent to have housing and on a job track, but only 84 percent had a place to live and 63 percent were going to work or school.

Successes included:

• Caseworkers visited 93 percent of children twice during their first month in a foster home, up from 89 percent in the last report. The goal is 95 percent, but Meltzer said the progress was notable.

• 98 percent of caseworkers completed reports assessing the safety and risk of a child's home within 30 days of closing out an investigation.

• 97 percent of all adoptions were done within nine months, exceeding the goal of 80 percent.

Children and Families Commissioner Allison Blake attributed much of the department's success to the reams of data that is available through an automated system that was purchased in the early stages of the reform effort.

After 25,000 family cases, the department learned 9 percent of families were investigated and evaluated three or more times a year. "Among these frequently-encountered families," most abused drugs and alcohol.

"We responded by investing $1.8 million to expand the Mommy and Me program...which allows parents to live with their children during drug treatment and addiction recovery," Blake told Chesler.

Marcia Robinson Lowry, the lead attorney who brought the lawsuit against the state in 1999 when she led national legal advocacy organization Children's Rights, also complimented the Department on how far it had come.

"We are pleased with the monitor's report, and with the progress the agency is making and the responsiveness of the leadership," said Lowry, who is still lead attorney in the case but under has a new nonprofit advocacy group called A Better Childhood, Inc.

The monitor, the state and the plaintiffs also left the hearing with a plan to hold confidential meetings to discuss revising some of the settlement's goals. In July, Blake took everybody by surprise when she announced in court she wanted to renegotiate some of the terms.
"Should there be adjustments to the settlement agreement, any further discussions between the parties should not be (held) during these proceedings," Chesler said.

Chesler praised the department for "having the capacity to look at itself and its problems. There is still work to be done ... but we are light years from the system I saw 11, 12 or 13 years ago. I congratulate you."

Cecilia Zalkind, executive director for Advocates for Children of New Jersey, a research and advocacy group, said there are things to celebrate in the report. "It is positive that the state is continuing to make progress, especially in areas where improvement lagged, such as parent and child visitation." But rising caseloads are a "red flag...Caseloads that are too high for workers to do their jobs is how the system got into trouble in the first place. I would hope there would be an action plan on this."

"This settlement was signed nine years ago ... I wonder what that says about progress. There still seems a lot left to do."

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