N.J. Child Welfare Plan Asks More Funds
 

N.J. Child Welfare Plan Asks More Funds


By TOM BELL, Associated Press Writer
TRENTON, N.J. - New Jersey will hire 1,500 new workers and raise the
monthly stipend for foster families 25 percent under a plan to reform
the state's troubled child welfare system.
AP Photo
State officials said at a news conference Wednesday the proposal
should end years of problems at the Division of Youth and Family
Services that have contributed to the deaths of several children and
the abuse of others in state care.
"For too long we failed," Gov. James McGreevey said. "This plan sets
us on a corrective course of action."
The reform plan was mandated under a settlement reached last year
amid a federal lawsuit filed by a child advocacy group. An independent
child welfare panel established as part of the settlement now has 30
days to review the plan and approve or reject it.
The nearly 200-page plan calls for hiring 1,500 new workers at the
child welfare agency over the next 2 1/2 years and increasing the
current $420 monthly stipend that foster families receive for each
child, among other changes.
It would also create forensic investigator positions so all cases of
child abuse are investigated within 24 hours. Currently, caseworkers
do the investigating and they are not done quickly enough, officials
said.
Children's advocates generally praised the plan while expressing
reservations.
"What I'm concerned about is that it does not ... have sufficient
specificity to let us have confidence that the state knows how it will
accomplish these goals," said Marcia Lowry, executive director of
Children's Rights.
The plan, which will be part of the budget McGreevey will present to
legislators Tuesday, will cost the state $125 million in the next
fiscal year and $180 million the following year.
Critics point to such deaths as that of 7-year-old Faheem Williams,
whose mummified body was found in a Newark basement last year.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...hild_welfare_1
Defend your civil liberties! Get information at http://www.aclu.org, become a member at http://www.aclu.org/join and get active at http://www.aclu.org/action.