ADVOCATESCHILDREN OF NEW JERSEYfor

The Littlest Victims:Protecting Babies fromAbuse and Neglect

Giving Every Child A Chance35 Halsey Street, 2nd Floor, Newark, NJ 07102 • (973) 643-3876 • Fax (973) 643-9153 • advocates@acnj.org •

www.acnj.org

DECEMBER 2012

Astartling statistic: Eighty percentof New Jersey children who diedfrom abuse and neglect over a

5-year period were 3 years of age oryounger. Nearly half of these babies andtoddlers were known to the state’s childprotection system.1

These facts tragically spotlight a tragic truth:Infants and toddlers are more likely to fallvictim to abuse and neglect — and morelikely to die from that maltreatment. That’sbecause very young children cannot takecare of themselves, defend themselves ortell on their abusers. They are unable torecognize danger and to understand whatis happening to them.

Abuse and neglect at such a young ageoften has serious, lifelong consequences.From zero to age three, a child’s brain growsfaster than at any other time during theirlives. Maltreatment during these formativeyears interferes with healthy braindevelopment, harming intellectualfunctioning and social and emotionaldevelopment and well-being.2 Trauma ata young age can cause developmentaldelays, aggression, lower IQ scores,diminished language abilities, attentionand attachment disorders, anxieties, fears,sleep problems and a reduced ability toempathize with others.3

www.acnj.org2

Child Fatalities Due toAbuse/Neglect% 3 and Under

# Children % Children Known to ChildYear Total # Deaths 3 and Under 3 and Under Protection Services

2007 23 15 65 60

2008 28 25 89 28

2009 22 17 77 41

2010 16 14 88 36

2011 25 20 80 55

Total/Avg 114 91 80 43

Source: Department of Children and Families4

In New Jersey, as nationally, children under the age of fourmake up the largest group of children receiving servicesfrom The Division of Child Protection and Permanency(DCP&P), formerly known as the Division of Youth andFamily Services (DYFS). As of June 30, 2012:

� 25 percent of children under state child protectionsupervision were 3 or younger.5

� More than one-third — 34 percent — of children infoster care were three or under.6

� Once in foster care, infants and toddlers are more likelyto remain in placement longer than older children.7

6 to 9Years22%

4 to 5Years12%

0 to 3Years25%

18 and Older 4%16 and17Years9%

Age of Children Receiving Child ProtectionServices as of June 30, 2012Total = 52,873

13 to15Years14%

10 to 12Years14%

Despite this increased risk of harm, New Jersey hasinadequate policy and practice guidelines to address thespecial needs of infants and toddlers. Given the largenumber of New Jersey children three and under in the childprotection system, their fragile stage of development and thesevere consequences abuse has on their lifelong health andwell-being, it is urgent that specific provisions to childprotection policy and practice be established to ensure thesafety of our youngest children.

Specifically, Advocates for Children of New Jersey iscalling for:

� Mandatory training for child protection staff and thejudges and attorneys who handle these cases about theunique needs of infants and toddlers involved in thechild protection system;

� Revisions to current policy regarding safety assessmentsand visitation to more adequately address the specificneeds of infants and toddlers; and

� Improved data collection regarding infants, toddlersand their families who are known to the childprotection system.

Training and StaffingA well-trained workforce is essential to ensure that thesafety and developmental needs of infants and toddlers areconsidered in case planning and implementation. While childprotection staff are offered extensive training on a variety oftopics, few courses are devoted specifically to the needs ofinfants and toddlers. Furthermore, such training is notrequired. Since infants and toddlers comprise such a largepercentage of child protection cases, training on bestpractices to serve infants, toddlers and their families shouldbe mandatory for all caseworkers and supervisors.

Source: NJ Department of Children and Families

In addition, DCF should develop an infant-toddler certificate program, similar to what isoffered for staff specializing in adolescent casework. This certificate program should includetraining on infant-toddler development, traumain very young children and engaging parents ofvery young children.

Staff that complete this training should act asa resource for caseworkers and supervisors toassist in managing these sensitive cases. This,again, could be modeled after the system thathas been established for adolescents.

Also, others in the child protection system sharethe responsibility to ensure the health and safetyof every child coming to the attention of thefamily court. Judges, law guardians, attorneysrepresenting the state child protection system,attorneys representing parents and courtvolunteers need to be knowledgeable aboutearly childhood development, have access toadequate training on the developmental needsof infants and toddlers and use this knowledgeto guide their work.

Training and Staffing Recommendations:

1. Require that infant/toddler training be mandatoryfor child protection caseworkers and supervisors inboth new worker and ongoing training.

2. Develop an infant-toddler certificate program forsupervisors and caseworkers focused on developmentissues, trauma and how to engage families with veryyoung children.

3. Develop a system within the Division of ChildProtection and Permanency to provide resourcesand infant/toddler expertise to frontline workers andsupervisors, similar to what is offered for adolescentcase handling.

4. Develop and offer training related to infants andtoddlers to judges, attorneys representing theDivision of Child Protection and Permanency,attorneys representing parents, law guardians andcourt volunteers.

Giving Every Child A Chance3

Right from the Start

This report marks the beginning of Advocates forChildren of New Jersey’s Right from the StartCampaign, aimed at improving the safety, health andwell-being of New Jersey’s youngest children. Withgenerous support from the Turrell Fund, this initiativewill examine issues and advance change to give childrenfrom birth to three years the strongest possible start.

During a child’s first years, the brain undergoes itsmost dramatic development. What happens duringthese first critical years significantly influences a child’schance for school success — and can have lifelongimplications. A strong early care and education system,starting at birth and continuing into a child’s earlyelementary years, is the foundation to ensure thatchildren are reading on grade level by the end of3rd grade — a key to long-term school success.

While New Jersey has some aspects of a strong earlylearning system in place — quality preschools for somechildren and growing use of home visitation services —there is still much more to do before we can say that allchildren are getting off to the right start.

To learn more, visit www.acnj.org.

www.acnj.org4

Policy and PracticeTo safeguard very young children who come to the attentionof the child protection system, it is critical that all aspects ofcase handling — from screening to making decisions about achild’s permanent living arrangement — consider the uniqueneeds and development of infants and toddlers. Researchtells us that the impact of maltreatment and possible re-moval from the home can be lessened if thedevelopmental needs of the infant or toddler are adequatelyaddressed in child protection policy and practice. Followingare ways the state should improve both policy and practicefor cases involving very young children.

Safety and Risk AssessmentWhen a report to the child abuse hotline is accepted for aninvestigation, the division must thoroughly assess a family todetermine if a child is safe and what steps, if any, should betaken to ensure the child’s future safety. This investigation isguided by a series of evaluation tools, including separatesafety, risk and strengths and needs assessments.

By and large, these tools, as currently written, fail toadequately address the increased threat of harm that isposed to infants and toddlers.

The safety assessment, which is the first tool used todetermine whether children in the home are safe, does notidentify age as a safety factor. While the instructionson the tool caution that “youngchildren are particularlyvulnerable,” it does notspecify ages, identify thatpre-verbal children are at evengreater risk or use that as afactor in determining safety inthe tool itself. The extremevulnerability of children 3 andunder warrants that age be acriteria when determiningimmediate safety.

Other states have incorporatedage into these types ofassessments. In California, forexample, the safety assessmentincludes the age of the child asa factor influencing vulnerabilityand includes a question onthe protective capacities ofthe child.8

Another factor for this age group that should be includedon the safety assessment is whether there is another adult inthe home who has the ability to protect the child and evenremove the offending caregiver from the home. In addition,very young children are not in school and may not be in achild care setting where they interact with other adults whocan recognize signs of maltreatment and act on a child’sbehalf. This should also be considered when assessing safety.

While the safety assessment is designed to determine if achild is safe, the risk assessment tool is aimed at determiningwhether a child is at risk of future harm. The current tooldoes not list age as a factor when determining the risk ofabuse. In addition, the primary caregiver’s past or currentdrug use and mental health histories are also not calculatedon the abuse risk score.

A third tool is used to assess a child’s strengths and needs.Many factors identified on this tool are irrelevant for youngchildren, especially those who are non-verbal and notattending school. A specialized evaluation should bedeveloped for very young children. This could include riskfactors such as whether the mother has been assessed forpostpartum depression and an assessment of parent/childattachment and bonding findings. Unless such information isroutinely identified and considered, very young children maybe left in harm’s way.

Giving Every Child A Chance5

Research shows that visitation for infants and toddlersshould be as frequent as possible (daily or multipletimes per week) and be conducted in homelike locations thatare familiar to the child.11 Children who visited frequentlywith parents had fewer behavioral problems and showedless anxiety and depression than those whose visits wereinfrequent or non-existent12. Each day of visitation withparents triples the odds a baby in foster care will reachpermanency within one year.13

Supervised or therapeutic visitation can be particularlyeffective with this age group. These types of visits canprovide important information about a parent’s capacity toprotect a child and meet the child’s needs. This can alsohelp assess whether a family is ready for safe reunification.During visitation, the caseworker can play a critical role inmaking this assessment by observing the parent(s) in normalinteractions with the child (i.e. diapering, feeding, putting tosleep, playing, etc.). Workers can also act as parent coachesduring visits.

While New Jersey regulations14 require that “specialconsideration” be given to the need for preschool childrento have frequent visits, available data do not support that thisis in fact happening for most children, no matter their age.According to the July 2012 federal court monitor’s report,15

Judges and attorneys, particularly law guardians (and theirinvestigators) who represent children in these cases, shouldbe actively involved in determining whether it is safe for achild to return home. In addition to receiving the results ofthe safety and risk assessments completed by the division,they should use the American Bar Association’s Child Safety:A Guide for Judges and Attorneys and accompanying checkliststo inform their decisions regarding safety throughout thelife of a case. These materials include key questions andelements for safety decision-making for judges, attorneysand court volunteers. The Office of Law Guardian, Officeof Parental Representation and Legal Services of New Jerseyhave made a commitment to train staff in the use of thesetools. Judges and other attorneys involved in these casesshould follow suit.

Parent/Child VisitationSudden and traumatic separation from parents can severelydamage a young child’s emotional, physical and cognitivedevelopment.9

New Jersey children under the age of 1 spend an averageof 17 months in foster care, while children ages 1 to 5spend an average of 10 months in foster care.10 This is anextremely long time for an infant or toddler to be separatedfrom her parent.

AverageTime in Out-of-Home PlacementBased on the age of the child at the time of placement

30

25

20

15

10

5

02004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Source: NJ Department of Children and Families

NumberofMonths

CalendarYear Child Entered Placement (Initial Placements)

Under 1

1 to 5Years

6 to 12Years

13 to 17Years

only 35 percent of children in placement with a goal ofreunification, had weekly documented visits with theirparents.16 This data is not available by age of child.

The policy language is also vague and subject to interpreta-tion, instead of specifying the frequency of parent/childvisits for very young children. In addition, the visitationstandards set by the federal court monitor are inadequateand should be revised to reflect the unique develeopmentalneeds of very young children.

Recommendations

1. Revise current safety and risk assessment tools tomake age a primary consideration in assessing safetyand risk for infants and toddlers and include specificfactors that uniquely affect very young children onthe strengths and needs assessment.

2. Provide training to judges and attorneys on usingthe American Bar Association’s Child Safety: A Guidefor Judges and Attorneys and include key questions andelements for safety decision-making in cases involvingan infant or toddler.

3. Require that infants and toddlers receive a minimumof three visits per week with parent(s)/siblings,unless safety is a concern.

4. The federal monitor should revise visitationstandards to be more frequent for very youngchildren and then report on the state’s performanceon this critical measure.

Data Collection

In order to monitor how cases involving infants and toddlersare currently being handled in New Jersey, additional age-specific data are needed. Such information can be used fortraining, casework improvement, planning and programdevelopment and implementation.

The Child Placement Bill of Rights requires specific datato be prepared and updated at least every six months andmade available to the public upon request (NJSA 9:6B 5).Demographic data already include a breakdown of the agesof children involved with the child protection system. Thisprovision should be amended to require data specific toinfants and toddlers that can be used to identify needs,improve service delivery and ensure the safety of veryyoung children.

6 to9Years16%

4 to5Years11%

0 to 3Years34%

18 and Older 8%

16 and17Years10%

Children in Out-of-Home Placement(Total = 7,484 as of June 30, 1012, point in time)

13 to15Years11%

10 to12Years10%

Source: NJ Department of Children and Families

www.acnj.org6

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Giving Every Child A Chance7

Recommendations

Amend NJSA 9:6B-5 to require data specific to childrenages, 0 to 3, specifying data sets including but not limitedto the following:

� Types of services identified in the case plan tosupport the parent/child;

� Frequency of child/parent visitation;

� Frequency of caseworker visits;

� The number and percent of young children who areabused again after a substantiated or unsubstantiatedreport of abuse; and

� The number and percent of children who re-enterfoster care after being returned home.

ConclusionFrom birth to age 3, children are at greater risk of abuse orneglect. Many of these children come to the attention ofNew Jersey’s child protection system and, in fact, make up alarge percentage of the caseload. Despite this, New Jerseyhas little policy or practice aimed specifically at protectingthese vulnerable children.

All involved in the child protection system — from frontlinecaseworkers to judges who monitor these cases — shouldhave special training and knowledge of the needs of thesechildren and the tools to protect them from harm.

End Notes:1 NJ Department of Children and Families (2011). Public Comprehensive ChildAbuse Prevention andTreatment Act Reports January 2007 to December 2011.Retrieved from http://www.state.nj.us/dcf/reporting/fatalities

2 American Humane Association, Center for the Study of Social Policy, ChildWelfare League of America, Children’s Defense Fund, Zero toThree, (2011)A Call to Action on Behalf of Maltreated Infants andToddlers.

3 Ibid4 NJ Department of Children and Families (2011). Public Comprehensive ChildAbuse Prevention andTreatment Act Reports January 2007 to December 2011.Retrieved from http://www.state.nj. us/dcf/reporting/fatalities

5 NJ Department of Children and Families6 NJ Department of Children and Families7 NJ Department of Children and Families (August 2012). Median Length of Stayin DCP&P Placement, By Age. Retrieved from http://www.state.nj.us/dcf/childdata/outcome/Chapinmedianlosbyage04-10_053012.pdf

8 California Department of Social Services, (Updated May 2009). StructuredDecision Making Policy and Procedures Manual.

9 American Humane Association, Center for the Study of Social Policy, ChildWelfare League of America, Children's Defense Fund, Zero toThree, (2011),A Call to Action on Behalf of Maltreated Infants andToddlers.

10 NJ Department of Children and Families (August 2012). Median Length of Stayin DCP&P Placement, By Age. Retrieved from http://www.state.nj.us/dcf/childdata/outcome/Chapinmedianlosbyage04-10_053012.pdf

11 American Humane Association, Center for the Study of Social Policy, ChildWelfare League of America, Children's Defense Fund, Zero toThree, (2011)A Call to Action on Behalf of Maltreated Infants andToddlers.

12 Chen, Ronald K. (2010) Protecting and Promoting Meaningful Connections:TheImportance of Quality Family time in Parent-ChildVisitation.

13 Zero toThree (2009). Securing a Bright Future.14 NJAC 10:122D-1.14(a)315 Monitoring Report is a report released by the Center for the Study of SocialPolicy to assess NJ’s compliance with the goals, principles and outcomes ofthe Modified Settlement Agreement of the class action litigation aimed atimproving the state’s child welfare system.

16 Center for the Study of Social Policy, (July 2012) Progress of the NJDepartment of Children and Families Period XI Monitoring Report forCharlie and Nadine H. vs Christie.

Cecilia Zalkind, Executive DirectorMary Coogan, Assistant Director

ACNJ Assistant Director Mary Coogan,Policy Analyst Diane Dellanno andCommunications DirectorNancy Parello researched andwrote this report.

2012 ACNJ BOARD OF TRUSTEESRichard TrenkPresident, Board of Trustees

John BoyneNaim BulbuliaTimothy CardenBrenda ConsidineHendricks DavisLouise EagleMaurice EliasVito GagliardiStuart GrantGail Houlihan

Nancy LauterEileen LeaheyMatthew LoncarYvonne LopezValerie MaurielloMargaret McLeodJennifer MermansMaria PinhoClare Sapienza-EckKendell SprottRobert SterlingGerard ThiersCharles Venti

Giving Every Child A Chance35 Halsey Street, 2nd Floor, Newark, NJ 07102 • (973) 643-3876 • Fax (973) 643-9153 • advocates@acnj.org •

www.acnj.org

ADVOCATESCHILDREN OF NEW JERSEYfor

Advocates for Children of New Jersey’s Right from the StartCampaign is aimed at strengthening the state’s early learningsystem by enacting stronger public policies for young chil-dren and increasing investments in programs and servicesthat pay strong dividends over the course of a child’s life.

Campaign Goal: All young children in New Jersey havea strong early care and education foundation that supportstheir 3rd grade reading proficiency and provides thefoundation so children are:

� Starting off Strong with their earliest and most criticalneeds met,

� Thriving by Five with access to high-quality child careand preschool education, and

� Great at Eight, because they received a strongfoundation for learning.

The campaign will focus on the following areas:

� Providing children with positive early experiences inthe infant and toddler years.

� Ensuring families have access to child care.

� Improving the quality of child care in all settings.

� Expanding access to high-quality, state-fundedpreschool.

� Ensuring that very young children are protected fromabuse and neglect.

� Aligning preschool through 3rd grade education.

� Improving coordination of early care and educationservices to create a seamless system of early learningfor children from infancy to age eight.

Starting Off StrongA baby’s brain is a work in progress, particularly during thefirst three years of life. Research demonstrates that children’searliest outside experiences shape their overall development.Ensuring that young children experience safe and nurturingenvironments will provide them with a strong foundationfor a healthy start in life. This means supporting parentseffectively, providing high-quality child care and ensuringadequate health care and nutrition.

Young children in the child protection system demand aspecial focus. Policies and practices must be in place toensure that their unique developmental needs are addressed.

Thriving by FiveAs young children enter the preschool years, their access tohigh-quality early education is critically important. Nearly50,000 low-income 3- and 4- year olds in New Jersey attendhigh-quality preschool, but thousands more disadvantagedchildren are denied access because state-funded preschool isnot offered in their communities.

Families with children from infancy to age 8 rely heavily onchild care so they can work. Like preschool, high-qualitychild care is costly and often beyond the reach of strugglingfamilies. Plus, affordable child care does not always equalquality. Poorer quality care has a detrimental impact on thegrowth and development of young children. We, as a state,need to ensure that all children have access to high-qualitychild care and preschool.

Great at EightGood early learning programs, beginning in preschool andcontinuing from kindergarten through 3rd grade, play apivotal role in each child’s success in being proficient readersby 3rd grade. A child’s preschool experience should beclosely coordinated with the early elementary years, with astrong emphasis on literacy. To accomplish this, teachers,school administrators and parents must work togetheracross grade levels to ensure that learning builds on pastyears and connects with those to come. This will not onlyimprove children’s reading proficiency, but will providethem with the skills needed to graduate from high school,college or career ready.

Right from the Start: Building the Foundation for School Success