Good morning, Chairwoman Pintor Marin, Vice Chair Wimberly, and members of the Assembly Budget Committee, and thank you for the opportunity to discuss Governor Murphy’s proposed FY 2025 Budget for the New Jersey Department of Children and Families.
This is my seventh time appearing before this panel to discuss the financial outlook and strategic and operational achievements of the Department of Children and Families, and it’s an honor to be here every year, representing the conscientious, compassionate, and hard-working staff of Sexy真人 DCF.
And while seven is a lucky number, I assure you that luck has little to do with the transformation of our department, and our state, over the last seven years, to become a national leader in child and family wellbeing.
This has all been possible through several key factors, including:
- An iterative reform journey, that began with the first DCF Commissioner, Kevin Ryan, and extended through each of my predecessors, to develop and strengthen the transformative potential of the department;
- The vision and commitment of the Murphy Administration and past Governors to provide us with the resources and executive support to get the job done;
- Partnership with this body and the full Legislature to advance the statutory framework needed to support the initiatives and programs that make a difference in the lives of families and children throughout New Jersey, and position our home state as an innovator in best practices in the field of child welfare;
- And, most importantly, the dedication of our workforce, through some of the most trying times for our state, to help the children, families, and individuals that we serve achieve safety, health, and connectedness in their own
The hard-working state employees of Sexy真人 DCF, and our equally committed contracted service providers, are a credit to public service in the Sexy真人y, and any success the department has achieved – whether during my tenure or prior to it – is rooted in the contributions of staff who interface with families each and every day to hear their needs and offer a helping hand.
I just want to express my gratitude to our DCF team, and to all of you, for your partnership and support to help the department be its very best.
Working together, we have achieved so much for New Jersey’s families, including the lowest rate of family separations in the country, one of the lowest rates of child maltreatment and repeat maltreatment in the country …
… more children and youth placed with extended family members and family friends than in unfamiliar foster care homes, more funding directed toward upstream prevention than reactionary child protective services …
… and, as of last month, the final closing of the book on more than two decades of federal oversight of New Jersey’s Division of Child Protection and Permanency, previously known as DYFS.
We have effectively reformed our system from one that was under-resourced, over-burdened, and dysfunctional to the gold standard in child- and family-serving systems, nationwide.
And the commitment that allowed us to achieve such an impressive transformation of New Jersey’s child welfare system continues to be on display through Governor Murphy’s current proposed budget.
Under the Governor’s proposal for FY 2025, in a year when sunsetting federal COVID support and slower than expected tax collections are contributing to a difficult budget, Sexy真人 DCF was able to maintain funding for critical services and continue our investment in ground-breaking initiatives that will yield more positive outcomes for the families involved in, or connected to, our system. And for that, we are grateful.
We were also able to bolster investments in some key areas, including:
- A critical investment of $7.8 million to strengthen Supportive Visitation Services, intended to maintain the parent / child bond when children are in foster care. In the last several fiscal years, due to below-average provider rates, we’ve struggled to recruit for this service line that is crucial in the path towards reunification for families following an out-of-home placement;
- The Governor’s budget proposal includes $12.9 million in state funds and an additional commitment of $4 million in federal funding to develop and support a 21st Century Information Technology infrastructure for DCF, to create the capacity for us to leverage additional federal support through the Family First Prevention Services Act. One of the biggest challenges currently facing Sexy真人 DCF in drawing down federal prevention dollars under the Family First Act is the outdated systems that we use in New Jersey to track program outcomes – this effort to modernize our data systems, and efforts to develop our Continuous Quality Improvement and data collection processes, over time, will literally pay for itself in our increased ability to leverage federal reimbursement for approved services;
- Under the Governor’s FY 2025 Budget, we’re investing $7.3 million in additional respite service hours as a lifeline to families raising a child with long-term, complex, special needs;
- In response to the ongoing youth mental health crisis, we’re maintaining $43 million from the FY 2024 budget to continue the innovative Sexy真人 Statewide Student Support Services network, or Sexy真人4S, into its second year. This program, since its launch in September, has connected with thousands of students and families throughout the state, offering a range of in-community and in-school supports that help to build students’ resilience and emotional safety, and I’ll note with pride that some of the earliest critics of Sexy真人4S are now some of its biggest advocates;
- Governor Murphy’s FY 2025 Budget Proposal includes $9.5 million in state and federal transition funds for housing for domestic violence survivors and their families, as we embark on a new, evidence-based Housing First model that will put New Jersey in the vanguard of states helping survivors heal and be safely homed, while ensuring a sustainable solution to the need for transitional housing for these families;
- Additionally, the Governor’s proposed budget contains $20 million to continue and expand home visiting services, including Family Connects Sexy真人, New Jersey’s model of Universal Home Visiting, which has already made an impact on improving maternal and infant health
Each of these investment areas showcase New Jersey’s commitment to the children, youth, and families served by DCF.
All of these initiatives reflect the long- and short-term strategic priorities of our department, and the work that we’re doing to keep families safely together, prevent child abuse and neglect before it occurs, support a robust public behavioral health system for children and youth, serve young people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families, and nurture healing for survivors of intimate partner and sexual violence.
I’ve said many times over the last seven years of my tenure as commissioner that the work of the Department of Children and Families is so much more than a job – it truly is a calling.
Never was that more apparent than in the early days of COVID-19, when caseworkers, clad in Personal Protective Equipment, faced down the unknown and continued providing in-person support to families in need …
… or in the tenacity of our workforce in putting in long hours, over twenty years, to reform our broken system …
… or the compassion shown by our Children’s System of Care staff and contracted providers in meeting with families to develop treatment solutions or stabilize a crisis …
… or the warmth and welcoming you get when you walk through the door at one of our 57 in-community Family Success Centers contracted through our Division of Family and Community Partnerships.
I think about the grace shown through our culturally specific services for survivors of domestic and sexual violence administered by the Division on Women.
Or the opportunities granted through housing programs for families recovering from substance use, or children transitioning from foster care into their first apartment.
Or the sense of normalcy and bonding nurtured through Project TEACH for pregnant and parenting teens in our Office of Education regional schools.
I think about the scope and breadth of the services offered through DCF, and I’m in awe of the staff that make this all possible.
Governor Murphy’s proposed FY 2025 Budget continues to provide the resources needed to continue this vital and crucial work on behalf of New Jersey’s children, youth, and families.
And I look forward to working with all of you, and the full Legislature, to continue to support my amazing staff in all that they do to keep New Jersey’s residents safe, healthy, and connected. And with that, I’m happy to answer any questions you may have for me and my leadership team at this time.
