What’s New?

Legislative Hearing Informs Lawmakers of Child Care Industry’s Unprecedented Struggle Amidst Economic Recovery

Posted on June 26, 2020

On June 25, 2020, Assemblywoman Gabriela Mosquera, chair of the Women and Children Committee, held a committee hearing, inviting parents, advocates and child care business owners to share the impact that COVID-19 has had on child care. As New Jersey proceeds through this pandemic, it's essential that we have a child care system in place for children and families. Child care is the workforce behind the workforce.

ACNJ would like to thank the incredible group of child care advocates who testified yesterday on why saving child care is critically important to children, working families and our economy.

President Issues Executive Order to Strengthen Child Welfare System

Posted on June 25, 2020

On June 24, President Donald Trump issued an executive order in order to strengthen the federal child welfare system. This order, effective immediately, seeks to reduce the need for foster care and the time spent in it, while facilitating achievement of permanency through reunification, adoption or guardianship. 

Currently, there are over 400,000 children in foster care nationwide, and many of those children have been waiting to be adopted. Additionally, 20,000 children age out of foster care every year without finding a permanent home. Per the executive order, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will be responsible for “improving partnerships, improving resources and improving oversight.” 

To help ensure that children in foster care, HHS has been directed to:

  • collect data on the demographics of children in foster care and foster families, foster parent retention and certification time, the number of foster homes needed to serve children, and the time it takes across the states to complete certification for foster care and adoption. 
  • provide guidelines on state agency partnerships with local public, private, faith-based, and community organizations. In addition to publishing data that can be used to aid services, HHS will hold states accountable, “to the extent consistent with applicable law,” for using organizations to help recruit and support foster parents. 
    • The Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) predicts these partnerships will be useful for nonprofits struggling to stay afloat amid the pandemic and recession.
  • develop a plan to ensure kinship guardians and youth aging out of foster care can access the services available to them. This includes the urging of states to use federal funding for kinship guardianship agreements.
  • issue guidance on the flexible use of Title IV-E entitlements for quality legal representation of parents and children, as well as legal support staff. 
  • use “all existing technical assistance” to promote the National Training and Development Curriculum. Additionally, it must increase availability of trauma-informed training by making it free and web-based.
  • require that IV-E reviews and Child and Family Services reviews adequately address things like reasonable efforts in preventing removal and establishing permanency and timeliness of Termination of Parental Rights filing.
  • collect the standards used across the states for risk assessments and, within 18 months, issue best practice standards.
  • conduct a study on the implementation of the 1994 Multiethnic Placement Act (MEPA), which bars discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in placement. HHS must then issue guidance on implementation and the rights of parents, prospective parents, and children with disabilities.

By following these steps, the federal government hopes to help our most vulnerable children succeed.

Helpful Resources:

The Executive Order: “Strengthening the Child Welfare System for America’s Children”

Statement from the Children’s Bureau

Child Welfare League of America statement on the Executive Order

The Chronicle of Social Change, “What’s Actually in the Trump Executive Order on Child Welfare”

Unlocking Potential: Our Ambitious Roadmap to Close Inequities for NJ Babies

Posted on June 24, 2020

In order to give all children a strong and equitable start in life, New Jersey must begin with an intentional focus on eliminating racial inequities and disparities in access to essential supports, according to a new report, Unlocking Potential, released today by Advocates for Children of New Jersey (ACNJ).

Read Unlocking Potential, A Roadmap to Making New Jersey the Safest, Healthiest and Most Supportive Place to Give Birth and Raise a Family

The statewide plan, funded by the Pritzker Children's Initiative (PCI), provides the action steps needed to achieve concrete targets related to early childhood development with the goal of ensuring an additional 25 percent of low-income infants and toddlers - 27,000 young children - will have access to high-quality services by 2023. These supports include access to quality child care, home visiting, health and mental health services.

Unlocking Potential is based on the belief that we all have a role to play in achieving equity and that supporting equal opportunities at the start of a child’s life is the first step in eliminating disparities that impact outcomes for babies, families and communities. The foundation for change is in place; the opportunity is now!

 

Learn More

National Foster Care Month Wraps up with Senate Caucus for Foster Youth Briefing on the Impacts of COVID-19

Posted on June 3, 2020

Aaliyah Roulhac

To conclude National Foster Care Month, the federal Senate Caucus for Foster Youth held a briefing on COVID-19’s impact on child welfare. The May 28th hearing shed light on the realities of vulnerable children and families who are already involved with the foster care system or families at risk of being involved in the child welfare system. Professionals, foster youth, advocates, physicians, caregivers and more weighed in on the current state of at-risk children and families different areas of the country and shared needed resources for those populations to thrive during the current health crisis.

Some of the issues that were raised during the hearing included the need for psychological treatment for abused children and training for the foster parents caring for them, a decline in reports of abuse due to schools being closed, the struggles that children with learning disabilities are facing while learning virtually, and the economic hardships of older youth who are transitioning from foster care to adulthood.

While the panelists from Michigan and Louisiana spoke about the needs of children and families in their own states, some of their issues are similar to issues we face here in New Jersey. ACNJ held a webinar discussing the impact of COVID-19 on New Jersey children and families with Department of Children and Families Commissioner Norbet-Beyer and members of her staff. Presenters talked about how we can all work together to strengthen families and help children in our state. Although National Foster Care Month has come to a close, advocating for the needs of children persists and continues nationally.

Helpful Links:

Watch the briefing
FosterClub Blog – Supporting Independent Young People from Foster Care During COVID-19 - ILP Poll Results
NJ DCF Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources
ACNJ - NJ Department of Children and Families’ Response to COVID-19