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Federal monitor says N.J. child welfare system needs to improve visitation with birth parents
By Trish G. Graber
January 14, 2010, 9:01PM
TRENTON -- The state must ensure that children in foster care visit their birth parents regularly, "one of the most important factors in determining whether they will reunite with their families," the state's child advocate said in a report issued today.
The report follows a federal monitor's assessment of New Jersey child welfare system showing the state's seven-year court-ordered reform effort has improved outcomes for children, but the department still needs to work on several areas -- including facilitating and documenting visits between kids in the system and their parents.
Matt Rainey/The Star-LedgerA 2006 file photo of Ronald Chen."While New Jersey has made great strides in reforming its child welfare system, this is a critical area that clearly needs more focused attention," said New Jersey Acting Child Advocate Ronald Chen.
The federal monitor found children removed from their homes had at least a weekly visit with a parent only 17 percent of the time, during the first six months of 2009. The figure is less than half what it should be in the next reporting period, covering the final six months of last year.
Association for Children of New Jersey Director Ceil Zalkind said last week the statistics raised a red flag. She called visitation -- between children and their parents, as well as between separated siblings -- a "fundamental" issue, critical "to ensuring that children are safe whether living with their own families or in placement."
Department of Children and Families Commissioner Kimberly Ricketts said caseworkers indeed coordinated more visits than recorded in the report, but failed to record them in the computer system, which skewed results.
Research by the Child Advocate's office found children are 10 times more likely to be reunited with their parents when mothers visit their children regularly. Children who do not experience regular visits with their parents spend three times longer in out-of-home care than those who do. And kids visited regularly by their parents show fewer behavioral problems and less anxiety and depression than those who are not, the report said.
"The absence of frequent and supportive parent-child family time can have a profoundly negative effect on a child and seriously jeopardize the child's safety, permanency and well-being," Chen said in the 33-page report.
As of Sept 2009, 8,353 New Jersey children were placed out of the home, in home-based foster care, group homes, an independent living setup, or with a family member or family friend, according to the report.
The report also lays out practices used in child welfare systems across the country that promote children's well-being. They include holding visits in "the least restrictive, most comfortable setting possible" and facilitating contact between parents and their children almost immediately after removal from the home.
In Rhode Island, for example, a program offers visitation at the Providence Children's Museum, where children and parents can spend time together in a "healthy" setting. In California, children must be given the opportunity to call their birth parent an hour after they are removed from their home, under state law.
"It is our hope that this information will be used by professionals in all areas of the child welfare field to view visits as an opportunity to further strengthen families and ensure that even more children safely return home," Chen said.
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Previous coverage:
• Report shows improvement at N.J. child welfare system
• Federal monitors give largely positive marks for N.J. child welfare
• Federal monitor to unveil report on Division of Youth and Family Services
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/01/child_advocate_report_says_nj.html
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