RELEASE: December 20, 2004

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DYFS increases relative homes by 35 percent
Caseload also continues to go down

TRENTON— The Department of Human Services’ (DHS) Office of Children’s Services (OCS) announced today the number of relative resource homes increased by 35 percent (890 homes) this year allowing the Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) to place more foster children with relatives.

“National best practice and the child welfare panel recognize that relative care allows us to add stability to a child’s life by maintaining those important family bonds,” said OCS Deputy Commissioner Kathi Way. “With the board rate changes we made earlier this year, more relatives are now able to step up and care for a relative’s child.”

Relative board rates increased dramatically under the child welfare reform plan. Prior to the change, all relative caregivers received a monthly stipend of $250 regardless of the child’s age. Under the recent changes, relatives now receive $435 a month for a child under the age of five up to $545 a month for a teenager. These new board rates match the current “traditional” foster home board rates.

Overall, the number of resource homes increased by 13 percent (871 resource homes) from January 2004. Though the number of licensed “traditional” foster homes remained flat, OCS’ new marketing and outreach campaign launched in late September has generated increased interest in foster parenting.

In October, over 600 phone calls were received to the 1-877-NJ-FOSTER hotline. The number of phone calls continues to increase with over 800 received in November and December is on pace to receive over 900 phone calls.

“We are pleased with the progress of our marketing campaign,” said Deputy Commissioner Way. “More applications are coming in every day and we expect to see a significant jump in ‘traditional’ foster homes as we move into the new year.”

As the number of resource homes increases, the overall DYFS caseload continues to decrease. Since the implementation of several reform plan initiatives in July, the caseload has decreased by 9.75 percent or 6,675 children.

The caseload also saw a decrease in the number of families served by over 3,500 families or 9.5 percent. As part of the child welfare reform plan, ongoing caseworkers will be assigned no more than 15 families/cases.

“With the implementation of centralized screening and the deployment of impact teams, our caseworkers are now able to spend quality time with children and families who truly need our help,” said DYFS Assistant Commissioner Ed Cotton.

Early next year, over 160 trainee caseworkers will also be able to take full caseloads leading to more manageable caseloads for all staff. Training for specialized forensic investigators will also begin in January allowing for the creation of separate investigation units from ongoing casework.

“I commend the hard work of all of our DYFS field staff,” said DYFS Assistant Commissioner Cotton. “They have the most difficult job in state government- with the changes we are making they will finally have manageable caseloads and the tools and resources they need.”

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