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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. |
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