Department of Human Services

222 South Warren Street
Trenton, NJ 08625

FURTHER INFORMATION
Contact: Laurie Facciarossa
Andy Williams
(609) 292-3703

RELEASE: March 24 , 2004

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DYFS and Child Welfare Panel Agree on Foster Home Recruitment Effort

As part of the sweeping child welfare reform effort in New Jersey, the Division of Youth and Family Services will devote $1.7 million to develop resource homes in targeted neighborhoods and serving specific populations, such as adolescents, boarder babies and Hispanic children.

The recruitment plan calls for contracts with community- and faith-based organizations to recruit and develop at least 145 new resource families within 10 months, Human Services Commissioner James Davy announced today. DYFS will provide board payments, clothing allowances and Medicaid to the resource families, while the agencies will provide support services, Davy said.

The community- and faith-based agencies will target specific geographic areas and children whose needs are currently underserved. The targeted recruitment initiatives are part of an overall plan to add 1,000 new resource families during the next year, Davy said.

“Recruiting quality resource parents will be crucial to our success in reforming the child welfare system,” Davy said. “When children must enter foster care, we need to place them as quickly and appropriately as we can. This means we will place children, whenever appropriate, within their own neighborhoods and with parents who will be there for as long as they’re needed.”

DYFS crafted the recruitment plan in conjunction with a court-appointed panel overseeing child welfare reforms that were required under the settlement of a class-action lawsuit that had been filed by Children’s Rights Inc. on behalf of the state’s foster children. The settlement earmarked $1.5 million for foster home recruitment. DYFS will use those funds and an additional $156,680 from its current budget to fund the initiatives.

Goals of the targeted recruitment plan are to:

Develop at least 45 homes for adolescents in Middlesex, Essex and Camden counties.
	DYFS has identified a need for foster homes to serve adolescents, particularly those awaiting discharge from shelters and detention centers.
	In each of the three counties, DYFS will award a $175,000-a-year contract to develop at least 15 homes. To expedite the recruitment effort, DYFS will solicit proposals from existing provider agencies in those counties.

Add 15 homes for infants, primarily boarder babies, in Essex County.
	DYFS will initiate a $150,000 annual contract to develop at least 15 resource homes.
	Again, given the urgency to begin recruiting, DYFS will solicit proposals from existing providers.

Recruit and develop 60 homes in Newark, Camden, Trenton and Paterson.
	A large percentage of children from these communities must be placed in foster homes outside their hometowns. DYFS wants to develop additional homes so that children can be kept close to home, whenever it is appropriate.
	DYFS will seek proposals from faith-based agencies in each of the four communities to develop 15 new resource homes (60 homes total). The four faith-based organizations will receive $150,000 annual contracts to develop and support the homes.

Add 15 resource homes in Cumberland County for Latino children.
	More than 20 percent of the children entering foster care in the county are Hispanic.
	DYFS will issue a request for proposals seeking a community-based organization with experience in the Latino community. The agency will receive a $150,000-a-year contract to develop and support the 15 resource homes.

Develop 10 new foster homes for Hispanic children in Hudson and Passaic counties.
	The Hispanic Information Center was already awarded a contract to recruit, develop and support five homes in Hudson County and five in Passaic.
	Under its contract, the agency will receive $181,680 this year for recruitment, training, home studies and support services.

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