RELEASE: October 23, 2000

Previous Screen

Human Services Commissioner Michele K. Guhl and New Jersey Parents’ Caucus, Inc. President Katherine Wagner announced plans today for new family support organizations and talked with families at an opening reception for the new NJ Parents Caucus headquarters in New Brunswick.

When a child has a serious medical problem, parents usually find that friends and neighbors flock to their aid. When a child has a serious emotional or behavioral problem, many parents find that friends and neighbors avoid them. This was Lori Murray’s experience, and that’s why she is an advocate for Family Connections, New Jersey’s new statewide system of support organizations for families with children who have emotional or behavioral disturbances.

For years, Murray sought help for her child on her own. Her family struggled through seven hospital admissions and several suicide attempts with little support. "If my child had leukemia, people would have probably been bringing dinner to my home. But when your child has mental health problems, people are more likely to avoid you. My husband and I felt so alone."

She believes that having had the support of other families who could understand her struggles would have helped her through the process of getting help for her child, and would have saved her family a lot of pain.

Through the Statewide Family Connections program, the New Jersey Parents Caucus will launch the family support organizations (FSOs) to do just that: provide families emotional support and guide them through the process of obtaining the best services for their children.

FSOs are a key component of the Children’s System of Care Initiative (CSCI), New Jersey’s major reform of the system that serves children with behavioral and emotional problems and their families. They will exist as local, non-profit organizations that provide a host of support services to families.

Parent advocates are a key component of the FSOs, offering parents and caregivers support throughout their experience. Their involvement includes:

• helping families prepare for assessment

• being available for crisis support

• working with child/family teams to help families:

• understand and navigate the system

• identify appropriate community resources

• articulate needs

• develop individual education plans

• access computers for research.

"Sometimes, just talking with someone who’s been where you are makes all the difference," said Commissioner Guhl. "That’s the simple but powerful purpose of our family support organizations."

Having a crisis plan for support is also important for parents. In an emergency situation, it is often difficult for parents to think clearly enough to make decisions or be effective advocates for their children. Family support organizations can help parents plan for these situations, or advocate on their behalf in a crisis.

Fifteen FSOs are being created throughout the state. Burlington, Monmouth and Union counties are expected to have FSOs operating by January 2001. Each FSO will receive up to $200,000 to develop and operate their programs. The Statewide Family Connections, operated by the New Jersey Parents’ Caucus, will receive $450,000 for program development as well as on-going support and technical assistance to the FSOs.

Through the CSCI, which is administered by the Department of Human Services, New Jersey is pioneering a statewide system that creates an umbrella under which services to children and families are delivered. The initiative is the first in the country to ensure continuity in care by coordinating a child’s care among all child-serving agencies: child welfare, mental health, Medicaid and the juvenile justice system. Until now, families have had to work with each agency individually, and there has been no coordinated plan for serving families or monitoring their childrens’ care.

"It just makes sense to get all the players on the same team," said Commissioner Guhl. "Expanding the availability of services for troubled children is a cornerstone of this initiative. But it also is essential that we simultaneously create a system that coordinates and tracks their care."

New Jersey is also the first state to form a statewide support network for families who have children with emotional and behavioral problems.

"For the first time, families will play a key role in designing the system that serves them and the services they receive," said Loretta Geis, director of the New Jersey Parents’ Caucus. "Family support organizations will soon work with county-based care management teams and caregivers to ensure that services to families are appropriate and timely."

Other key components of the Children’s Initiative are:

• a contracted systems administrator (CSA) who has overall responsibility for coordinating care across systems;

• care management organizations (CMOs) that will coordinate local resources for children with the most intensive needs;

• unified screening that establishes a uniform screening and assessment process and ensures that all children receive consistent services.

Governor Christie Whitman, who has enthusiastically supported this reform, included $39 million in her fiscal year 2001 budget for the Initiative. Ultimately, funding for these services will increase by $113 million over four years, from $167 million in state fiscal year 2000 to $280 million in FY 2004.