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Kidjacked | Jacked Up
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USM's 1992 study of Kansas found that 'reasonable efforts' to keep a family together had not been made in 54.8% of cases. New Jersey CPS News Archive
New Jersey News Coverage
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Hudson Cradle, serving Jersey City's 'boarder babies' for 20 years, plans for July shutdown
by Rhea Mahbubani
Hudson Cradle, a nonprofit organization in Jersey City that has served nearly 500 at-risk infants over the past 20 years, will shut its doors July 8.
With DYFS trying to find foster homes or reunite babies with their own parents, referrals to Hudson Cradle, an interim, one-stop service, are at an all-time low, the officials said.
nj.com
June 27, 2011
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Tragedies continue, but children under DYFS are safer
by Richard Wexler
In an editorial on May 29 concerning the horrifying death of Christiana Glenn, 8, of Irvington, The Star-Ledger asks: "Does reducing the use of foster care mean some kids are wrongly left in the custody of their mothers?"
Here's the answer: No. And here's how we know: No child welfare system can stop every child abuse tragedy, not even every tragedy in which there were clear, obvious warning signs. So trying to determine whether any system is getting better - or worse - based on horror stories is a dangerous error. It is impossible to judge safety based on fatalities for a reason...
blog.nj.com
June 17, 2011
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Looking into DYFS and a girl's death
We may never know what the state's child welfare workers did for 8-year-old Christiana Glenn, or if they could have saved her.
The abused Irvington girl's death has opened an investigation into the actions of the state's Division of Youth and Family Services, but the results are usually not made public.
nj.com
May 29, 2011
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The Hun School participates in Princeton Township food waste recycling pilot program
by Krystal Knapp
PRINCETON TOWNSHIP -- Banana peels, pizza crusts, chicken bones and other food waste no longer end up in the garbage at The Hun School. The private preparatory school now recycles about 1,400 pounds of food scraps a week.
The waste is hauled off to become compost instead of heading for the landfill. "By recycling our food waste, we've cut the amount of trash that goes to the landfill by more than half," said Mike Chaykowsky, Hun's director of facilities. "It's one more way to extend our sustainability efforts at the school."
nj.com
May 29, 2011
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Adoptive and Foster Family Workshop
by Brian Glaser
Adoptive and foster families often face unique challenges, and in some cases there can be issues in cementing the parent-child bond.
Social worker Kate Langhart, MSW, LCSW, specializes in practical strategies for dealing with issues of attachment and/or trauma in adoptive and foster-child situations.
kids.baristanet.com
April 18, 2011
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U.S. education secretary criticizes N.J. GOP plan to cut preschool budget in urban areas
by Megan DeMarco
The plan, submitted to Gov. Chris Christie's office by the Senate Republican caucus, calls for funding only half-day preschools in urban districts and diverting the $300 million saved from the cuts to suburban schools.
Under the proposal, districts would also qualify for more state funding if they bus students greater distances or have large populations of senior citizens. There would also be a $30 million grant program to promote accountability in urban schools and $50 million for schools that demonstrate the most efficiency.
nj.com
February 24, 2011
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Essex County CASA holds training classes for new volunteers
Essex County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) will conduct training classes this fall for volunteers interested in becoming advocates for children in foster care in Essex County.
The 30-hour training course will be offered from Nov. 10 through Dec. 6. Court Appointed Special Advocates are volunteers appointed by the Family Court to gather information about a child's needs while in foster care and to represent a "child's voice in court."
North Jersey
October 28, 2010
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Spousal privilege has outlived its day in court
It was quite the auspicious match: James Mauti, a Springfield doctor indicted on charges of sexual assault, married a woman who, authorities say, hid incriminating evidence of the crime.
The day after they tied the knot, the new Mrs. Mauti faxed a letter to prosecutors saying she was invoking spousal testimonial privilege, a state law that protects a spouse from testifying against his or her partner in most criminal cases.
The Star-Ledger Editorial
October 4, 2010
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New N.J. child welfare agency director is named
by Susan K. Livio
A woman who has spent her entire professional career working at the Division of Youth and Family Services will now lead the agency responsible for investigating child maltreatment and providing foster and adoptive families.
Marimon, 58, joined DYFS in 1977 as a bilingual social worker and has held various supervisory, administrative and managerial positions since 1978, according to her resume. She graduated from New York University in 1975. She will be paid $130,000.
New Jersey Real-Time News
September 15, 2010
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Parental Rights Trump Bonds Formed Between Child and Foster Parents, N.J. Court Rules
by Charles Toutant
The possibility that a child may suffer serious psychological or emotional harm from severing bonds with foster parents is not alone sufficient grounds for termination of parental rights, a New Jersey appeals court says.
What must be proved, in essence, is that formation of foster-parental bond was in large part the birth parent's doing, to the point where "any harm caused to the child by severing the bond rests at the feet of the parent," the Appellate Division held in Division of Youth and Family Services v. D.M., A-6020-08.
New Jersey Law Journal
June 18, 2010
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Mother's Day protest in front of Kearny's immigration jail
by Charles Hack
Three Long Island children were each holding a single rose, a symbol of the flowers they could not give to their mom on Mother's Day, as part of a immigration reform demonstration outside the Hudson County jail yesterday.
The kids' mother, Maria Pacheco, 40, is being detained in the Hudson County jail while facing deportation proceedings after being arrested almost two years ago at her Wantagh, Long Island, home, her husband Marco Carvajal, 44, said. The family was part of the roughly 100 demonstrators from various immigration groups.
New Jersey News
May 10, 2010
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Camera operator sues Homeland Security
by Merry Firschein
An Edgewater resident has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, claiming his arrest for using a camera outside a federal building in lower Manhattan in November 2009 is unconstitutional.
Antonio Musumeci seeks to overturn a federal rule prohibiting filming federal buildings while standing in public areas, according to the suit. The building is adjacent to a plaza where many people eat during the day, the suit says. "There are no signs in the plaza indicating that the plaza is federal property or that federal regulations restrict photography in the area," it asserts.
northjersey.com
April 29, 2010
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Group suing DHS says state 'resistant'
by Ginnie Graham
Oklahoma has been as resistant as any state that Children's Rights has sued over child welfare concerns, the group's founder says.
Children's Rights began as a project of the New York Civil Liberties Union and later the American Civil Liberties Union. It became an independent nonprofit in 1995. The group has filed lawsuits against child welfare systems in Connecticut, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C.
Tulsa World
April 28, 2010
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Three more lawsuits doomed to fail, three more bad child welfare systems likely to get worse
by Richard Wexlar
The group that so arrogantly calls itself "Children's Rights" has filed another one of its Mclawsuits against a state child welfare agency - this time in Massachusetts. And NCCPR's sources say that another such Mclawsuit, in Texas, is imminent.
Meanwhile a group which is unaffiliated with CR but has the same myopic outlook about how to fix child welfare systems, the National Center for Youth Law, has filed the same kind of suit in Nevada. All of these child welfare systems almost certainly are every bit as bad as CR and NCYL say they are.
NCCPR Child Welfare Blog
April 15, 2010
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Police: NJ teen sold stepsister, 7, for party sex
TRENTON, N.J. -- A 15-year-old New Jersey girl prostituted herself and her 7-year-old stepsister to have sex with as many as seven men and boys at a weekend party near their home.
The child later put on her clothes and left the apartment; her sister stayed. Two women found the child crying outside the apartment and walked her home. The teen is charged with aggravated sexual assault, promoting prostitution and other crimes.
New York Post
March 31, 2010
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New Jersey Mom Says Son, 8, on U.S. Terror Watch List
A New Jersey mother said her 8-year-old son faces extra scrutiny from TSA agents when he flies because his name appears on a "selectee" list, The New York Times reported.
Najlah Feanny Hicks said her son, Michael Hicks, a Cub Scout who travels often with his family, has had to go through extra security screening for most of his young life, receiving his first invasive pat-down at the age of two.
Fox News
January 15, 2010
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The Record: Keep children safe
EVERY TIME we hear news about New Jersey's child welfare system these days, it gets a little better.
This week's 162-page report by a federal monitor cited real progress, and said that a $1 billion overhaul of the system was gradually improving the lives of the 48,000 children it oversees. The monitor, Judith Meltzer, found that New Jersey had "exceeded expectations" in several categories.
North Jersey
January 9, 2010
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Medical Marijuana Close to Being Legalized in New Jersey
by Christopher Weber
The New Jersey Senate has approved a bill legalizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes.
The legislation would allow residents with debilitating medical conditions to grow, possess and use marijuana for personal use, as long as it's prescribed by a doctor. The drug is often used to treat cancer, glaucoma and human immunodeficiency viruses.
Politics Daily
December 1, 2009
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NJ hospital that called CPS when woman refused Cesarean being sued for death of another baby
by Albany CPS and Family Court Examiner
The same hospital in New Jersey that called Child Protective Services when a mother refused to have a cesarean section operation is being sued by another couple for the death of their baby.
Rebecca Rabinowitz was born premature and after five days in intensive care was sent home. The day after she went home, Rebecca was congested and had difficulty breathing. Mr. and Mrs. Rabinowitz took her to the emergency room at St. Barnabas but were told that the baby had a little cold. They took her back to the ER several times over the next few days but were told the same thing each time. Baby Rebecca died on the morning of July 21. She died of a common enteroviral infection, not of the common cold.
Daniel Weaver
August 17, 2009
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N.J. limits disclosure on deaths of children
by Susan K. Livio
It took the death of 7-year-old Faheem Williams six years ago to convince state leaders the Division of Youth and Family Services was failing to protect the thousands of children under its care.
Already horrified when Newark police found the boy's battered and mummified body hidden in a relative's closet, they were motivated to action by what was revealed next: DYFS had lost track of Faheem's family, then gave up looking without investigating a complaint alleging he and his brothers had been scalded and beaten.
New Jersey Star-Ledger
July 27, 2009
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NJ woman loses custody of baby because she refused a cesarean
by Daniel Weaver
A New Jersey woman, known only as V. M. in court papers, refused to consent to a cesarean section on April 16, 2006 and gave birth the same day to a child, known only as J. M. G in court documents, by normal vaginal delivery.
Even though the child was delivered safely and had no problems due to the birth, Child Protective Services, known in New Jersey as the Division of Youth and Family Services, took baby J. M. G. because the mother had refused a cesarean section.
On July 16, 2009, the appellate division of the New Jersey Superior Court agreed with DYFS and a lower court's decision that Ms. V. M. had neglected and abused her child and the DYFS was correct in taking custody and terminating Ms. V. M.'s parental rights.
Albany CPS and Family Court Examiner
July 23, 2009
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Refusal of Unnecesarean Leads to Loss of Custody: V's Story
On April 16, 2006, V and B, a married couple, went to Saint Barnabas Hospital after V began experiencing contractions. V is described in court documents as a 42 year old, college educated woman who was thirty-five weeks pregnant and in labor.
St. Barnabas Hospital in New Jersey, boasts a 43.9 percent cesarean rate. V signed the consent form for the administration of intravenous fluids, antibiotics, oxygen, fetal heart rate monitoring, an episiotomy and an epidural anesthetic. However, she refused to the blanket consent forms for c-section or fetal scalp stimulation.
Unnecesarean
July 21, 2009
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Non-profit helps Warren County foster children
by Warren Reporter
For Megan, a local child who was removed from her home because of abuse by her parents, life is sometimes very hard.
She has lived in six foster homes since her removal three years ago and most recently has been sent to live in a group home with several other teenage children. She was not warmly welcomed by her peers in her new placement; someone put hair removal cream in her conditioner bottle.
NJ
July 17, 2009
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Hillsborough man gets 20 years for growing marijuana in home
by Michael Deak
A township man was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday morning for maintaining a marijuana production facility in his Millstone River Road home.
Nicholas Tafaro, 30, had pleaded guilty to charges of operating a marijuana manufacturing facility, manufacturing marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and possession of marijuana.
My Central Jersey
May 15, 2009
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Cape May disabled toddler dies while under DYFS supervision
by Susan K. Livio
A 2-year-old disabled boy who had been supervised by New Jersey's child welfare system has died, allegedly at the hands of his mother's boyfriend, the second such incident in less than a month, state Department of Children and Families officials said toda
State officials confirmed this week that the agency had been investigating the family of a Cape May County toddler with cerebral palsy who died April 22. The disclosure came just days after a federal monitor issued a report crediting the department with making improvements to expand, better train and supervise its child welfare caseworkers.
The State Ledger
April 30, 2009
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