Send an Email to urge Gov. Murphy to sign the #childcare enrollment bill S3947/A4746!
New Jersey's child care system and families can't wait any longer. This industry is essential for the state’s economy and it’s time to make the commitment to fund it as a public good just like law enforcement and public PreK-12 education. This permanent change in payment practice will help to stabilize the child care system by ensuring predictable funding to providers that care for children of low-income working families.
Click here to read about the difference between enrollment vs attendance and how this helps the child care system.
Envíe un correo electrónico para insistirle al Gobernador Murphy a que firme el proyecto de ley de inscripción de cuidado infantil S3947 / A4746! El sistema de cuidado infantil y las familias de Nueva Jersey no pueden esperar más. Esta industria es #esencial para la economía del estado y es hora de comprometerse a financiarla como un bien público, al igual que la policia y la educación pública de PreK-12. Este cambio en la practica de pago ayudara a estabilizar al systema de cuiadado infantil asegurando una fuente predecible de fondos a los que cuidan de los hijos de familias de bajos recursos que trabajan.
In a budget that he describes as paying our bills, meeting our obligations and planning for the future, Governor Murphy signed a record-setting $46.4 billion FY2022 New Jersey budget into law, which will cover all of the state’s planned spending between July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022.
The budget continues to provide much-needed supports to critical programs that serve children and families. It also expands funding to other programs so that more children and families will have access to essential services. These dollars are particularly important as individual families, communities and our state continue to recover from the devastating impact of COVID-19.
Below are highlights of additional funding in the budget earmarked for children and families:
Education and Child Care
$580 million in formula aid for public schools:
$50 million in preschool expansion funding;
$100 million for extraordinary special education aid;
$35 million for the Community College Opportunity Grant, which provides financial assistance to students who attend NJ community colleges;
$45 million for The Garden State Guarantee, which will provide two years of free tuition at four-year institutions of higher education for students in their third and fourth years with household incomes of less than $65,000;
$10 million in matching payments of up to $750 for taxpayers with incomes below $75,000 when they make a contribution to open a new NJBEST 529 College Savings account;
$200 million for current projects under the Schools Development Authority;
$100 million of federal funds for child care to fund facilities improvements, employee supports, and workforce development programming.
Tax Credits
The Child Dependent Care tax credit will be refundable and expand eligibility up to $150,000, more than doubling the number of families qualifying for the credit;
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Age of Eligibility will be extended from 21 to 18 years of age.
Health Care and Family Services
$2.45 million for home visiting;
Cover All Kids, a new initiative, will change eligibility, waiting lists, premiums and outreach for approximately 90,000 additional children who remain uninsured;
$8.5 million to extend Medicaid coverage to 365 days for postpartum mothers, and $2 million to create a pilot program to provide expectant mothers with rental assistance. These are part of the First Lady's Nurture NJ Initiative;
$19 million to support the new Reproductive Health Care Fund which will pay for contraceptive, prenatal, labor and delivery care for women lacking access to medical care;
$250,000 for the Garden State Equality (Adverse Childhood Experiences Resiliency Project).
Juvenile Justice
$4.2 million to reduce juvenile delinquency through the County Youth Services Commissions.
ACNJ will continue to provide post-budget updates as additional information becomes available. Stay tuned!
The NJ Division of Child Protection & Permanency (CP&P) is rolling out training for its staff on Solution Based Casework (SBC)™ to help improve the quality of case plans, one of the four remaining benchmarks that New Jersey has to meet pursuant to a federal court settlement agreement.
Solution based casework (SBC) is a research-informed casework practice model aimed at promoting enhanced family engagement and improved outcomes, including child safety and permanency. SBC uses data tracking and family work monitoring so that caseworkers and key stakeholders can document the specific changes families have made towards their goals. According to the most recent federal monitor’s reports, “[m]eaningful case plans that are authentically developed with the family are the foundation of quality child welfare work. Timely and meaningful case plans that are developed with the family at the beginning of a case, and throughout a family’s involvement with DCF, rely on workers’ assessment and engagement skills.”
SBC incorporates three theoretical foundations – solution-focused, cognitive behavioral and family life cycle theory – and is comprised of three basic elements: (1) developing partnerships with families, (2) focusing on families’ daily routines to help identify threats to safety and (3) targeting specific prevention skills designed to address and reduce the identified safety threats.
To that end, SBC has established four milestones to aid caseworkers in remaining on track to satisfy the three SBC elements:
Collaborate with families to help identify thoughts, behaviors and emotions that lead to maltreatment and identify early warning signs to prevent future maltreatment. This includes assisting the families in identifying resources to help address barriers to safety, and reach a consensus for change.
Create a written plan with families to develop a strengths-based co-developed family agreement (previously referred to as a service plan) that incorporates the family’s own language and breaks down clear, achievable goals. A family agreement shifts away from the original model of service compliance and moves towards behavioral changes that improve child safety. Family partnership also creates a more collaborative environment among the caseworker and family, instead of an adversarial one.
Develop a concrete action plan that identifies the specific steps family – and their supports, including service providers, friends and extended family – will take towards their goals. Caseworkers review and update the action plan at every family meeting and work to identify and celebrate families’ progress.
Tailor the action plan to unique challenges that families may face.
SBC practices have been associated with improved outcomes in child welfare cases when implemented appropriately. A study examining 4,559 child welfare cases in Kentucky from 2004 to 2008 found that SBC intake and investigation practices were associated with improved overall safety, SBC case planning practices were associated with improved permanency outcomes and provision of ongoing SBC case management and case planning were associated with overall well-being. Notably, as the SBC implementation adherence score increased, so too did the compliance score for the federal Child and Family Services Reviews outcome measures. The New Jersey Department of Children and Families’ commitment to mandate a statewide training and implementation of SBC for all CP&P caseworkers may potentially help improve outcomes for children and families, including enhanced child safety and permanency, as well as improve the Division’s compliance with federal child welfare requirements and the Sustainability and Exit Plan child and family outcomes and case practice performance measures, including those currently designated as “To Be Achieved.”
According to New Jersey regulations, students with disabilities have the right to be in school until they turn 21 years old. Parents always had the right to advocate for their child to remain in school beyond 18 years old or a proposed graduation date in order to request additional or compensatory education.
Last week, Governor Murphy signed a law that authorizes school districts to permit students who turn 21 in the 2021 school year and who are receiving special education services to receive an additional year of special education and related services if the parent and the individualized education program (IEP) team determine that the student requires them, including transition services. The additional learning will be applicable for the next two school years.
Requesting the extension of services: Those who believe that their child may be eligible for the extended services should:
write to their school district director of special education and school principal stating that you do not want your child to graduate, and
state that as S3434 was signed into law by Governor Murphy, they are requesting an IEP meeting to discuss the reasons why their child should remain in school for an additional year, and what services will be offered.
Diplomas If the school district indicated that they are sending a diploma, the parent should write to the school's principal and director of special education stating that the diploma will not be accepted. If the child has already received a diploma, but the parent would like the child to receive an extra year of schooling, the diploma should be returned with a letter explaining that the parent is seeking an IEP meeting to discuss the child's right to remain in school an additional year.
Stay-put The letter to the school district advocating for another year of special education services should be sent with a certified mail receipt. It should include a statement that the parent intends to file for due process and request stay-put, the legal right of a special education student to remain in the last agreed-upon IEP placement during the due process litigation. In order to get this automatic stay-put, the parent must file for mediation or due process.
Graduation Since the child has a right to participate in graduation ceremonies and end-of-year celebrations with their peers without receiving a diploma, the parent should make that clear in their letter to the school district that they wish for the child to participate in graduation ceremonies but not receive the diploma.
If the school district refuses to schedule an IEP meeting, asserts that S3434 does not apply or that the child is not entitled to stay-put, the parent will have to file for due process and ask for emergent relief. While it is preferable to file for due process prior to graduation, the parent may file for due process and request stay-put after graduation.
For any questions regarding the foregoing or if the school district says that the child is not entitled to the additional year of school, contact Nina Peckman, Staff Attorney, at (973) 643-3876, ext. 226 or npeckman@acnj.org for further assistance.
In a budget that he describes as paying our bills, meeting our obligations and planning for the future, Governor Murphy signed a record-setting $46.4 billion FY2022 New Jersey budget into law, which will cover all of the state’s planned spending between July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022.
