[kimyas]

October 19, 2009 - New Jersey Receives Praise for Efforts to Safely Reduce the Need for Foster Care

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
October 19, 2009 DCF Press Office: 609-633-8507
Kate Bernyk
Lauren Kidd


New Jersey Receives Praise for Efforts to Safely Reduce the Need for Foster Care
Casey Family Programs’ hosts event to highlight child abuse prevention strategies

WASHINGTON, D.C. – New Jersey Department of Children and Families’ (DCF) Commissioner Kimberly Ricketts participated in a journalist roundtable in the nation’s capital today hosted by Casey Family Programs’– which focused on effective strategies to safely reduce the need for foster care and highlighted jurisdictions, like New Jersey, that have demonstrated success in that effort.

“I am pleased by the progress New Jersey has made on behalf of children and families throughout our state,” said Governor Corzine. “We will continue to increase our reform efforts to ensure that every child has a good home, a bright future, and a healthy mindset.”

“We are so grateful for Casey Family Programs’ efforts to shine a light on the need for child abuse prevention and family support services nationally – and thank them for recognizing the great work here in New Jersey,” Commissioner Ricketts said at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. “Thanks to the commitment and dedication of Governor Jon S. Corzine, we have been able to make unprecedented strides in developing services for vulnerable children and families all across the state.”

Since 2006, New Jersey has been able to successfully and safely reduce the number of children in out-of-home placement by more than 25 percent – from over 11,000 children in 2006 to just 8,300 children by the end of September 2009. Commissioner Ricketts was one of four child welfare leaders invited to participate in the roundtable event, along with representatives from Philadelphia, Georgia and Florida.

“A growing number of child welfare systems across the country are turning to prevention as a way to safely reduce the need for foster care. The New Jersey Department of Children and Families is among the leaders in this movement that strengthens families and keeps children safe. As an innovator in child welfare that is committed to safety, New Jersey has a powerful story to tell,” said Cari DeSantis, executive vice president of Casey Family Programs.

During the event, Casey Family Programs highlighted a variety of effective prevention strategies including home visiting programs, family support centers, family residential substance abuse treatment programs, differential response and family teaming.

New Jersey has been unique in the nation due to Governor Corzine and the state Legislature’s commitment to maintain services that prevent child abuse and support vulnerable families. That commitment has lead to a continuum of new and expanded services in the past few years that was highlighted by Casey Family Programs today, including the:


■Development of 37 publicly-supported Family Success Centers – neighborhood-based centers that have provided vital services to over 50,000 families since 2007;
■Expansion of three evidence-based home visitation programs statewide, now serving 2,500 families at any given time in all 21 counties;
■Creation of the Differential Response Pilot Initiative to engage families when they are in need of social services and before child abuse or neglect is an issue – currently launched in six pilot counties (Camden, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem Counties in 2007 and Middlesex and Union Counties in 2009) and has served over 2,100 families to date;
■Support for 227 school-based youth services programs that provide nearly 130,000 students annually with services ranging from mental health services and substance abuse counseling to employment services and pregnancy prevention programs;
■Expansion of substance abuse treatment services for parents and adolescents involved with the child welfare system, in partnership with the New Jersey Department of Human Services, that targeted programs specifically for fathers and their children, as well as services that provide treatment for parents with both substance abuse and mental health issues; and
■Implementation of a new case practice model for child welfare staff that focuses on empowering families rather than exercising power over them and training caseworkers on family teaming strategies.
Commissioner Ricketts was joined by representatives from a local New Jersey service provider Children’s Home Society of New Jersey – Donna Pressma, executive director, and Martiza Raimundi-Petroski, director of family support services, Latino outreach and parenting education programs. Both Pressma and Raimundi-Petroski offered real-life stories of the families their organization serves each and every day. The Children’s Home Society of New Jersey offers a wide range of family and child services, including two Family Success Centers in Trenton, N.J.

This is the second time this year New Jersey has been recognized by Casey Family Programs for the state’s work to improve child welfare. The national non-profit organization recently launched the Raise Me Up campaign here in September, making New Jersey the second jurisdiction to benefit from the powerful campaign to get the public involved in supporting children in foster care.

[millie58]

yes, but it's not just NJ. In Nassau County (LI), there was an article about reducingkids going into care. However, when I adopted my last 2 kids, the adoption worker said because of the recession, the idea is to keep kids with bio families and have oversight. At the same time, my worker said bad economic times ususally meant more kids in care. Go figure!!

[kimyas]

I'm ready to give up!!!! I have already put my age up to 5 so I mean how much more do I need to do. I was thinking of accepting all races. As when I first signed up for foster care I didnt put all races down.

I'm actually going to some kind of meeting here in NJ that DYFS is doing about children that are legally able to be adopted. I thought it would be interesting to go and see what kind of kids are legally free. Doesnt say the ages or anything but it will be interesting to listen so thats on Wednesday. Hopefully something good comes out of it.

Kim

[copswife166]

Kim,
If you are able to accept children of all races, I think you will increase your chances. We are open to all races and gender and had been licensed about a month before our baby girl came to us. She is a reunification case and is the sweetest, most lovable baby ever! She is just pure joy. We are hoping to adopt, but will love every child until we are able to do so. It has been a wonderful experience for our family. I wish yoiu the best of luck!-Kate

[kimyas]

Originally Posted by copswife166

Kim,
If you are able to accept children of all races, I think you will increase your chances. We are open to all races and gender and had been licensed about a month before our baby girl came to us. She is a reunification case and is the sweetest, most lovable baby ever! She is just pure joy. We are hoping to adopt, but will love every child until we are able to do so. It has been a wonderful experience for our family. I wish yoiu the best of luck!-Kate

My husband and I are trying to really search our soul on this one. I think I could handle a girl better than boys. Not sure why I think its just a more personal reason for me. Anyhow can you tell me if theres any different in racing a child of your own race versus a child of a different race? I know its just the color of skin and I am starting to think that myself. I keep saying they all need a home so really what is the difference. I think we can handle it. By the way what county are you from? I from Ocean County.

Kim

[sandysis]

No, it's not just color of skin. You should only adopt a child of a different race if you are prepared to raise that child honoring his/her race and culture. Yes, children need safe and loving homes, but they also need to be raised with pride in who they are and what their culture has to offer.

[copswife166]

Kim,
I admire your soul searching through the issue of race. It's not something that should be taken lightly because as our previous poster mentioned, children of different races and cultures need to be taught to take pride in who they are and their heritage. My husband and I are fully committed to raising a child of a different race and will teach our child those values. That being said, we also have three biological children, one of whom is pretty severely autistic. He has taught our family more than a PhD from Harvard! Our life has taken a turn in the years that he's been diagnosed as to what's really important and matters in life. The rest is just fluff, really. We also do not care about the opinions of others who are not family and friends. We are learning as we are going through life with him and have gained so much. When we decided to foster and hopefully adopt, we decided that we would take a child of any race or gender. We are learning as we go! I have learned how to take care of AA hair. I consider it to be a source of huge pride and a big accomplishment! I love her hair and all the little hair do's. So much fun! We also said we would take only a legal risk child who was not likely to be reunified. Guess what? Our little girl is a reunification case! My point is, do your soul searching, it's a good thing, but sometimes life just takes a different direction and you never know what's going to happen next. I do not and will never regret fostering my AA foster daughter. We know she is going back to her mom and I will always consider her to be an absolute gift and joy to our family!

[sandysis]

I also agree that life takes unexpected turns. However, I also truly believe that it takes more than just love to raise happy and healthy adults. And that is what we're doing, raising future adults. Adults need to be secure, honored and self identified. Soul searching is super important as an adoptive parent. Part of that soul searching should include whether you are willing to put yourself in your child's shoes - meaning are you willing to be the minority? Can you make sure you will have adult friends of your child's race to give him/her role models? Are you willing to join activities that put your race in the minority and his/her race in the majority (for example if your child is black and you are white, joining a black church, African dance classes, black karate studios, etc.).

I think that when one has a child with severe special needs, that certainly takes priority and race/culture become less important. But assuming your family is not dealing with extreme special needs, race and culture become salient for your child of color.

Check out the book, "IN their Own Voices." It interviews adult transracial adoptees. Research is very important.

[copswife166]

I understand what you are saying, sandysis, and I agree with you. We live in a very diverse area. In the schools my children attend, caucasians are the minority. My family is committed to raising a child of a different race, and yes, we are willing to put ourselves in the minority to raise future, well-adjusted and functioning adults. My point was, do your soul searching as that shows that you are considering all of these issues.

[copswife166]

BTW- thank you for the book suggestion, I certainly will check it out and read it!-Kate

[sandysis]

Copswife166, you sound like an awesome parent. It's refreshing to hear people say that race does in fact matter.

[kimyas]

Well I called up my facilitor and she put down I will accept all races now. So now its all a waiting game to see if that makes a difference.

Kim

[copswife166]

Thanks for your kind words, Sandysis! I absolutely believe that race matters and I wish we live in an ideal world where it doesn't. My husband and I really do our best to see the dynamic nature of raising children whether it is dealing with our autistic son, our neurotypical daughters, or our AA American foster daughter. Sometimes these discussions can become so heated and it's nice to have a forum where all voices can be heard because that's what we all need to learn and educate ourselves and not be afraid to discuss these issues because they can be controversial. We owe that to our children!

[mamala]

Are you guys only licensed as fost-adopt? Because you won't get a ton of calls that way. Fost-adopt homes get kids from cases that look "hopeless" and frankly, it's a best guess at that--and the caseworkers know it. In an effort not to get your hopes up, they try to only place children in the WORST reunification cases (the ones that TRULY look hopeless) in fost-adopt homes... and even those kids can leave (either to parents who actually work the plan--which we have witnessed--or to relatives).

In NJ, we can also be separately licensed with the adoptive unit--where they place children whose goal is termination (or they're already TPR'd). Check with your resource workers to see if your homestudy is active in the adoptive unit in Trenton.

Don't let them discourage you from the adoptive unit. The adoptive unit themselves tried to discourage us. But ultimately our forever child came through Trenton... not fostering.

[JJemail1]

Hi there,

Kim, I would highly suggest researching transracial adoption more (as you've seemed to make a quick switch) before accepting a placement of a child of a different ethnicity than your own. Ethnicity does not "matter" to many people but, unfortunately, in this imperfect world it is still associated with certain stereotypes and will certainly change the dynamic of your family. Futhermore, and most importantly, it will undoubtedly impact the children who are adopted.

For starters, a few questions to ask oneself when considering a placement of a child whose ethnicity differs from theirs are (in no particular order):

-Do I live in a diverse community or will this child be one of few "minorities"? How do I think my community will treat/impact the child?

-How does my family feel about transracial adoption--will they accept the child? Will it be a touchy or "hush hush" subject?

-How much exposure do I have to cultures and values outside of my own? Am I willing to explore further? Do I have friends who are of another ethnicity?

-How much exposure do I have/can I provide for a child of a different ethnicity of my own to his/her ethnic and cultural history?

-Am I prepared for the attention (good and bad) that transracial adoption typically prompts?

-Have I ever been the recipient of racial discrimination? How did it make me feel?

-What would I teach my children about their "difference" from me?

-Would I accept a child of any ethnicity if a child of my own ethnicity were available? If not, will I feel like accepting placement of a child of an ethnicity other than my own is a disappointment?

A good book to read to gain perspective is:

Black Baby White Hands By: Jaiya John

As a member of an interracial family (Hispanic, Caucasian and African American), I can tell you that you are going to encounter blatant racism, rediculous comments, outright prejudice, stares -- and on the other hand, the reversal of such; for example, overpraise for adopting a black baby (who presumably would have lived a stereotypical horrible life in the ghetto with poor, drug-addicted parents), which is just as ignorant and distasteful -- and given all of this (and more) you must know and believe with every bit of your soul that the differences in ethnicity in your family make no difference to you. Until you can say that, I don't advise moving forward. Even the most well-intentioned, culturally educated family is not immune to experiencing racism and/or even being racist themselves. Our family conitnues to learn this every day. That's why it's so important to honor our children's parents --no matter what their station or circumstance was that lead to their child being removed-- because the comments we make and sentiment we have about those parents and community will be digested by our child/ren as the type of person s/he is.

If we say their mother was trash, they will feel like trash. If we say they were "born in the bad side of town," they will feel inferior. The tricky thing is that we must find ways to teach our children how racism/socioeconomics influences the creation of "classes" of people by the dominant race--why the circumstances of minorities are largely created and perpetuated by this class system--and we must at the same time, let our children know that being adopted by a member of this dominant or "higher" class is not why they are valuable--they were always valuable, in fact, invaluable.

On the reality show, "From G's to Gents," a cast member (a young African American male) revealed that he lived his whole life in foster care after being found in a garbage can shortly after his birth, and that the fact that his mom "threw him in the garbage" always made him feel, simply, like trash. A very wise woman/psychologist on the show (Fonzworth Bentley's mother -- I do not recall her name), relayed an incredible analogy. She asked the young man, if one threw away one million dollars in the trash, would it still be worth one million dollars? Her point was well-taken: the worth of everyone, despite our circumstances (many times which either can't be controlled or are unfairly imposed) do not detract from our inherent value--or like I said, invalue.

I think this is the type of perspective we must have as individuals and transracial adopters. Our children's parents didn't say, "I want to be a lousy parent when I grow up." They were subject to experiences and made choices that we can't say for sure we wouldn't have been through or made if we were in their shoes, in their skin.

I'm sorry for the winded post. I just think that the more we discuss "race," the more perspective we can gain to help our children change the "system" of class creation.

Best wishes to everyone,
Jennifer