The tentative agreement reached in March with the court monitor and a child advocacy organization relied on the state Legislature passing a bill that would create a state oversight panel. But that hasn’t happened yet.
The bill (A3707) was introduced in March but idled until Monday. The state Assembly Human Services Committee held a hearing, made some changes and approved the bill, sponsored by Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D- Middlesex. The state Senate version, sponsored by Senate President Nicholas Scutari, D- Union, has not moved.
Marcia Robinson Lowry, executive director of A Better Childhood, the nonprofit that sued the state to improve the system on behalf of foster children, sent a letter to the state Thursday saying she would not attend future settlement negotiations until the bill was enacted.
A bill does not become a law until both houses of the state Legislature pass it and the governor signs it.
It’s unclear how the Legislature’s delay will interfere with the state’s intended timeline. In March, the agreement said the state Department of Children and Families could request a hearing by the end of the year to formally end the court’s supervision, followed by a six-month transition period ending no later than June 30, 2023.
“The state has done a very good job while under court supervision, and now, of course, wants that oversight to end. But it is vitally important that the good work that has been done continues, and that the New Jersey foster care system does not start to deteriorate again once that oversight ends,” Robinson Lowry told NJ Advance Media Thursday.
“That is why it is so important for this legislation to be enacted; all of this good work must continue and the state must not slip back into the horrible conditions that marked the system when the lawsuit was brought.”
While under federal oversight, New Jersey’s child welfare agency was elevated to his own cabinet-level department and has grown to a workforce of about 7,000 largely to limit the number of families a caseworker may supervise at one time. Billions of dollars also have been spent establishing a computerized case tracking system, improving training and supervision, expanding services to families and raising the monthly stipend for foster parents, among other changes.
On Thursday, Meltzer sent a letter to the federal court monitor, Judith Meltzer from the Center for the Study of Social Policy in Washington D.C, and Christine Norbut Beyer, commissioner for the state Department of Children and Families to notify them that the state was not complying with the exit plan agreement because it had failed “to take all actions necessary to enact the proposed legislative changes.”
In a statement released late Thursday night, Norbut Beyer said the bill is gaining momentum and expressed confidence it would pass.
“The bill was released from the Assembly Human Services committee on Monday with amendments agreed upon by various stakeholders and system advocates following productive conversations over the summer and through the fall,” the commissioner said. “DCF and the rest of the Murphy Administration have taken all actions necessary to advance the legislation in a timely manner. We look forward to working with the legislature to advance this critical and urgent effort.
“We look forward to working with advocates, the courts, the federal monitor and the Plaintiff’s attorney – as well as the Legislature — to continue to transition New Jersey from federal oversight and transform the practice of child welfare for our state’s children, youth, and families,” Norbut Beyer said.
Meltzer agreed the Legislature’s lack of action on the bill is a problem. The bill “will codify in state law many of the key foundational elements of the reform and it provides for continued independent review of the State’s child welfare services and outcomes,” Meltzer said. “The failure to pass the legislation in the past eight months is a real disappointment and a cause for concern.”
Contacted late Thursday after Lowry sent her letter, Scutari, the prime sponsor of the bill, told NJ Advance Media he has requested the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee to post the bill for a vote at the next hearing date on Oct. 31.
Sen. Joseph Vitale, D- Middlesex, the health committee chairman, also confirmed the measure would be voted on that day.
“I support the bill,” he said.
Vitale said he had received a request from the department three weeks ago to post the bill for a hearing, but was waiting for Scutari, the sponsor, to make that request.
Scutari said he hadn’t requested a hearing earlier because he was waiting for feedback from law enforcement officials, who said they wanted to weigh in.
The bill does not mention criminal child abuse and neglect investigations. The Division of Child Protection and Permanency, the state’s child welfare and protection agency, investigates civil claims of child maltreatment, supervises children in foster care and arranges adoption for children whose parents are deemed unfit.
The bill would give greater independence and authority to an existing Staffing and Oversight Review Committee to examine state data to evaluate the division’s overall performance, including whether it is keeping caseloads sufficiently. The bill would also require the Department of Children and Families to supply a budget for the committee’s work so it may hire outside experts to study the agency’s effectiveness. The committee would also be required to file an annual report on its work.
In a court hearing on a monitoring report in July, U.S. District Court Judge Stanley R. Chesler expressed “some concern” the bill had not moved by then. “I hope it does not get bogged down in a battle between the good and the best,” he said.
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