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Gov. Murphy’s Commitment to Help Working Families Must Include Child Care Plan

Posted on January 15, 2019

ACNJ statement on Governor Murphy’s budget address
January 15, 2019

Today, Cecilia Zalkind, president and CEO of Advocates for Children of New Jersey (ACNJ), released the following statement on Governor Phil Murphy’s State of the State address:

“ACNJ applauds Governor Murphy’s commitment to New Jersey’s working families and their children, particularly his support of continued preschool expansion. However, one of the biggest costs for working families in New Jersey is child care, averaging $220 per week for an infant in a licensed center. Families are burdened by the cost of child care, which rivals housing and college costs as a percentage of family budgets. New Jersey cannot support its working families without a stronger child care system.”

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Advocates for Children of New Jersey is a statewide, non-profit child research and action organization, committed to giving every child the chance to grow up safe, healthy and educated.

2019: The Year to Tackle Newark’s Lead Crisis

Posted on January 8, 2019

Lead Levels in Newark Kids Up for First Time Since 2011
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Peter Chen, Policy Counsel

Lead exposure continues to endanger Newark children, but recent developments present an opportunity to develop a permanent plan to eliminate and control the lead found in Newark’s homes, infrastructure and environment.

Lead has reentered the spotlight and new data reveals continued risks for Newark kids:

  • More than 2 in 5 sampled homes had lead levels in their tap water above EPA action levels.
  • The percentage of children with high lead levels increased, after years of improvement.

As we begin 2019, this should be the year that the city of Newark and the state of New Jersey create a comprehensive solution to eliminate lead exposure for children once and for all.

Data Update: Lead Levels in Kids Up for First Time Since 2011
In March 2018, ACNJ released a Newark Kids Count report with a special section on lead exposure, since Newark children have a heightened lead exposure risk. The report showed continued high percentages of children being exposed to lead, as well as a lack of awareness among residents of programs designed to reduce lead exposure.

Newly available data show that heightened lead exposure risk persists for children in Newark. After years of trending downwards, the rate of children ages 6 to 26 months with elevated lead levels increased in the city, from 5.3 percent of tested children in 2016 to 5.9 percent in preliminary data from 2017, while the state rate remained largely flat between 2016 and 2017. Elevated lead levels are defined as 5 micrograms or more of lead for every deciliter of a child’s blood, but there is no safe level of lead for children.

The rate also went up for children age 6 years and under, from 4.7 percent in 2016 to 5.2 percent in 2017. This contrasts with the state exposure rate, which also remained roughly flat for children age 6 and under. New Jersey has a universal screening mandate at 12 and 24 months old, since young children are most vulnerable to the developmental harm caused by lead exposure.

Although there is no information on the cause of the increase, the shift is cause for concern after years of declining rates of lead-exposed children.

Recent Development: Water Exposure Risks
Although lead paint and dust are traditionally the main exposure risk for young children, tap water can also be a risk in old housing.

In 2018, tap water in Newark was found to have unsafe levels of lead. Of the 240 tap water samples tested in Newark in the second half of 2018, more than 2 in 5 (43 percent) tested above the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) action level for lead of 15 parts per billion (ppb). Results can be found on the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Water Watch page for Newark. To enforce the rule, large water systems in New Jersey are required to sample water in six-month intervals.

The EPA action level is the level for enforcement, not safety. There is no safe level of lead in water. Instead, when 10 percent or more of taps tested are above the EPA action level, the water system is considered out of compliance with the EPA Lead and Copper rule, requiring investigation and remediation if necessary. For a home, however, the only safe level of lead in water is 0.

Newark’s lead levels have exceeded the EPA action level during each testing period since the first half of 2017. The EPA requires water systems to add certain ingredients called “corrosion controls” to limit the amount of lead that mixes into tap water from lead pipes and faucets. In 2018, Newark’s investigation revealed the failure of its corrosion controls in roughly half the city’s water. This led the city to:

  • distribute water filters certified to reduce lead to thousands of residents;
  • ramp up enrollment in its lead pipe replacement program;
  • and send a letter to doctors and families recommending that pregnant women and all children starting at 3 months old be tested for lead, even if they had been previously tested.

For more information on the City’s programs to reduce lead exposure through water, please visit newarkleadserviceline.com.

What’s Next: Getting the Lead Out of Newark
With the spotlight on Newark’s lead issues, 2019 represents an opportunity for the city and state to eliminate future lead hazards for Newark’s kids. Although the City of Newark already has some programs to address lead in homes and water, ACNJ’s March 2018 report detailed the low awareness of these programs to many residents.

A comprehensive plan to eliminate lead exposure in Newark will require extensive cross-sector and cross-department collaboration, data collection and analysis, stronger enforcement of lead inspection and lead-safe housing laws, and large-scale public and community engagement efforts.
It is never too early to take precautions to protect children from lead. Even low levels of lead can have lifelong effects on children’s brain development, and these effects cannot be reversed. Healthy child development is a core part of ACNJ’s Right from the Start NJ and Think Babies campaign. With a comprehensive approach, we can ensure that all children in Newark grow up lead-free.

Sources:
NJ Department of Health provided the preliminary 2017 data in a special data request from November 30, 2018. Data for 2016 and prior years are available on the Department of Health website: https://www.state.nj.us/health/childhoodlead/data.shtml

NJ Department of Environmental Protection publishes water system testing data on its Drinking Water Watch website (https://www9.state.nj.us/DEP_WaterWatch_public/). Newark data for lead testing is available here: https://www9.state.nj.us/DEP_WaterWatch_public/JSP/PBCUSummary.jsp?tinwsys=127 Data was retrieved on January 8, 2019.

We are almost there! Join the list of ACNJ Sustaining Members today!

Posted on December 20, 2018

We are so close to reaching 40 sustaining members in honor or our 40th anniversary.  Below are some of commitments so far. Help us reach our goal before 2019!  Click here today to join the list of sustaining supporters.

Arturo Brito
Areti Chaves
Mary Coogan
Hendricks S. Davis
Amanda DiScala
Vito Gagliardi
Eugene Giufote
Stuart and Rita Grant
Chrishanna Harvey
Kay Hendon
Frank Messineo
The Learning Path Preschool
Kate and Bruce Lee
Nancy Lauter
Shilpa Pai
Robin Peacock
Solutions Architect
Katherine Shoemaker
Melissa Tasse
Meghan Tavormina
Sara Thoms and Marc Hanes
Richard D. Trenk
William and Christine Weiss
Cecilia Zalkind

Aiming to Do Better – Keeping Children Out Of The Juvenile Justice System

Posted on December 11, 2018

Mary Coogan, Esq.
ACNJ vice president

On Nov 30th, the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, The Education Research Section (ERS) and the Future of Children co-sponsored, “Multisystem Approaches to Help Keep Children Out of the Justice System”, an outreach event for the Future of Children journal, “Reducing Justice System Inequality”. Experts discussed best practices and programs that lower the amount of children and teens in youth detention and jails. All presenters argued that we must work together to reduce the number of children who are involved with the juvenile justice system and aim to do better.

I was especially interested in the “School Policies and Interventions and the Juvenile Justice System” panel because I worked with several of the presenters and am involved in disrupting the “school-to-prison pipeline.”

Research shows that calling in law enforcement to deal with a student’s behavioral problems can lead to harmful long-term consequences that schools do not anticipate. However, this can be avoided if law enforcement, the court system, community organizations and school administrators work together. Erica Hein, a research & reform specialist with the NJ Juvenile Justice Commission (JJC), spoke to this, telling attendees about the work being done to reduce the number of children being referred to law enforcement for school discipline matters.

The amount of children being reported to the police for school discipline matters are down in many parts of New Jersey, partially because prosecutors recognize there are better ways to handle these situations which do not result in a lifetime record. For example, in Middlesex County, First Assistant Christopher L.C. Kuberiet has led the effort to encourage school officials to review complaints “with an eye toward the consequence being handled at the local level instead of the formal process.” The number of school-generated complaints to family court was reduced by over 50 percent in a six-month time period. Other efforts to reduce school discipline matters to law enforcement are underway in Camden and Ocean counties.

Members of the School/Justice Partnership Subcommittee of the NJ Council for Juvenile Justice System Improvement, which Erica is part of, use a data-driven approach to develop strategies for system improvement.

At the event, Erica shared that beginning in 2015, members of the subcommittee examined data related to school-generated referrals to law enforcement and the Family Courts. Counties agreed to allow JJC staff to look over the demographics and referral charges. This data was initially shared at a conference ACNJ helped to coordinate for school officials and law enforcement in October 2015.

One change resulting from this data collection was to modify the juvenile delinquency complaint form to include a question regarding whether the incident was school-based. This will allow more accurate data collection, and will allow for future improvements. The subcommittee also asked JJC staff to complete surveys to help determine what was preventing youth leaving JJC facilities from re-enrolling in their schools in a timely manner. Changes were made due to survey results. These and other accomplishments are outlined in a recent subcommittee report.

Our ultimate goal should be to continue to reduce the number of youth involved in the juvenile justice system by bringing in other services at the front end of the system. As Erica Hein stated, “students deserve nothing less than our best thinking and collective energy.”

The journal can be can be downloaded here.

Take a look at our journey through the years #ACNJ40years

Posted on December 5, 2018

ACNJ’s 40th anniversary celebration video.

ACNJ staff and board gives thanks to all our partners and friends that joined us to celebrate #ACNJ40years! Take a look at our journey through the years.

View our 40th anniversary celebration video.
View and tag pictures from our celebration. 
Learn about our “40 For 40” sustaining members campaign.