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In child welfare, DYFS gets a resounding F
In child welfare, DYFS gets a resounding F
Agency ranks last among states on new federal test Saturday, May 22, 2004 BY ROBERT SCHWANEBERG Star-Ledger Staff New Jersey's beleaguered Division of Youth and Family Services failed 13 of 14 federal tests of how well it protects children and monitors their welfare, posting the worst performance among 46 states surveyed so far. The survey, released yesterday by the federal Administration for Children and Families, gave DYFS a passing grade only for having a statewide computer system to track all children in foster care. New Jersey failed to meet 13 other federal benchmarks, including all seven that directly measure child safety and welfare, and showed marked deficiencies in keeping children safe in their own homes. It was the first federal survey designed to measure how well state agencies protect children, and it found widespread problems. No state passed in all 14 categories. Forty-five states met from two to nine of the federal standards. Final reports have yet to be issued for Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri and Nevada. Wade Horn, assistant secretary for children and families in the federal Department of Health and Human Services, said the standards were deliberately set high. "We didn't want to set a minimal floor," Horn said. "We wanted to set a high bar to challenge states to improve their child welfare systems." In New Jersey, the survey covered the 18-month period from October 2002 to March of this year and documented all of the same problems that already had been brought to light by well-publicized cases of abuse and a federal lawsuit filed by Children's Rights Inc. State officials had predicted DYFS would fare poorly. "Quite frankly, we expected this," state Human Services Commissioner Jim Davy said. "Our system is broken and in need of fundamental and monumental reforms." Davy said the survey underscored the need for $125 million in additional state funding to improve DYFS by implementing a reform plan that was developed to settle the federal lawsuit. Gov. James E. McGreevey has included the $125 million in his proposed budget, but some lawmakers have balked at the cost. Davy said that reform plan also will serve as the basis for the program improvement plan he must submit to the federal government by August in response to yesterday's report. Horn said all states that fall short of the federal benchmarks must submit improvement plans and will be surveyed again two years after those plans are approved. States that fail to make a "good faith effort" to improve their child welfare system risk losing federal funds, he said. "The goal here is not to take money away from the states," Horn said. "The goal is to improve the child welfare system." The federal survey looked at seven measures of whether children are in safe and stable homes and seven different measures of how well child welfare agencies perform. It included extensive interviews in the community and in-depth reviews of 50 randomly selected cases handled by DYFS offices in Newark, Toms River and Atlantic City. All states fared poorly on the child welfare tests. New Jersey was one of 17 states that failed all seven, and no state passed more than two, according to Susan Lambiase, associate director of Children's Rights. The federal survey found children under DYFS supervision were left in "unsafe situations" because caseworkers did not visit often enough and that DYFS took too long to investigate complaints of abuse. In nine cases that should have been investigated within 24 hours, delays "ranged from two days to two months," the report said. It also found DYFS fell short of federal goals in getting children into permanent homes; keeping siblings together in foster care; establishing face-to-face contact between caseworkers and clients; meeting the educational needs of children; and providing for their physical and mental health. On the measures of agency performance, DYFS got passing marks for its computerized tracking system but fell short on case review, quality assurance, training, being able to provide an array of services, responsiveness to the community and recruitment of foster and adoptive parents. Overall, Lambiase said, New Jersey's child welfare system "is one of the worst." Davy agreed with the survey's finding that many of the problems at DYFS stem from the heavy work loads its caseworkers carry. "It is critical that we reduce our caseloads," Davy said. He said he hopes to announce a plan to do that next week. http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index....1528142590.xml 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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