The Office of Evaluation, Support and Special Investigations (ESSI) provides the necessary administrative support to Department of Children and Families executive staff to ensure the safety and well-being of New Jersey’s children.  ESSI’s role includes compliance with federal and State mandates to identify and process child fatalities, near fatalities, and critical incidents involving children.

ESSI conducts comprehensive in-depth case record reviews of child fatalities, near fatalities and critical incidents involving children who are receiving or have received services from DCF. As required, ESSI examines practice, policy and procedures to evaluate the extent to which DCF effectively discharged their child protection responsibilities and makes recommendations for improvement, revisions and development of policy.

The Comprehensive Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CCAPTA) Unit supports, facilitates and guides the activities of the Child Fatality and Near Fatality Review Board and its four Regional Review Teams which are responsible for reviewing child fatalities and near fatalities in order to identify their causes, their relationship to governmental support systems and methods of prevention.  Additionally, the CCAPTA Unit supports the activities of the Citizen Review Panels in the fulfillment of their respective responsibilities to evaluate the extent to which State and local agencies are discharging their child protection responsibilities in New Jersey.