What’s New?

Governor Murphy Signs into Law Paid Family Leave Expansion

Posted on February 19, 2019

On February 19, Governor Murphy signed into law a bill expanding paid family leave for working families in New Jersey. For an overview of the changes in the bill, click here.

For parents of young children, big changes are coming, including:

  • Extended time off to care for a loved one from a maximum of six weeks to 12 weeks,
  • Higher wages for employees on leave, and
  • Increased intermittent leave to 56 weeks, allowing parents to take a few days a week to care for their child.

Strengthening New Jersey’s paid family leave to reach more families has been a priority of ACNJ’s Right From The Start campaign. Read Cecilia Zalkind’s op-ed on how paid leave helps babies, not just their parents.

Send a message to thank Governor Murphy for signing the Paid Family Leave Expansion bill into law.

In the coming months ACNJ will continue its campaign efforts to let our state leaders know that we want them to Think Babies! Stay tuned.

Child Welfare Training Videos On Demand

Posted on February 6, 2019

New Jersey's child protection system can be complicated, stressful and frightening for the children, parents and the caregivers involved. ACNJ developed a series of videos on topics relating to child welfare, the need to consider a child's developing mind when making decisions and ways to potentially mitigate any stress they might experience as a result.

View Videos On Demand

ACNJ testifies on chronic absenteeism

Posted on February 6, 2019

On February 5th, ACNJ’s Cynthia Rice and Peter Chen testified on chronic absenteeism before the Joint Committee on Public Schools at the State House.

Read ACNJ’s full testimony.

View presentation.

Main takeaways:

  • No education reform initiative or quality learning experiences will ever be successful if students aren’t attending school.
  • What schools do to address chronic absenteeism makes a difference.

The committee also welcomed testimony from students, who explained first-hand, the complexities of why so many children miss too much school.

Read NJ Spotlight article: Why don’t kids go to school? Students have their say.

Read ACNJ’s latest reports on chronic absenteeism.

Advocates Gathered to Discuss the Undercount of Kids in the 2020 Census

Posted on January 16, 2019

Undercounting Kids in 2020 Census Will Shortchange NJ Billions in Federal Dollars

That’s why ACNJ hosted a forum that gathered advocates across the state to discuss how to address the undercount of children in New Jersey.  With nearly $23 billion in federal funding at stake for various programs such as Medicaid, SNAP, child care and Head Start, all children must be counted in the upcoming 2020 Census.

Nearly 150,000 kids in the Garden State under age 5 live in “hard-to-count” (HTC) areas where a low percentage of residents completed and returned their most recent Census questionnaire. That makes up 28 percent of the total child population under age 5 in the state. Read news release.

Materials from the event:

Check out photos from the event.

Click here to learn more and be 2020 census ready.

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.