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J. child welfare agency
ailing despite overhaul
By John P. McAlpin
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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TRENTON, N.J. — The body of a 7-year-old
boy found in a box in a Newark basement nearly
a year ago prompted a shake-up at New Jersey’s
child welfare agency. The agency reviewed all
open cases, hired 366 more employees and
received $30 million in emergency aid.
Despite those changes, four adopted boys — one
of them 19 — were found earlier this month mal
nourished and weighing less than 50
pounds each.
Their adoptive parents were
charged last week with starving
them, and on Monday, nine child
welfare employees were fired and
the state announced another review
of recently compiled safety assess
ments of children in state care.
Social workers had visited the
boys’ house in Collingswood as
many as 38 times in two years,
state officials said. Some of those
visits had been ordered of all chil
dren in state care after the Newark
death last January.
Gov. James E. McGreevey said
Monday the state is investigating whether criminal
charges should be tiled against the caseworker.
“It’s inconceivable how a caseworker could go
there and not detect these atrocious conditions,”
McGreevey said.
“Have they reviewed the cases? Are they see-
ingall the children in the home? Why did they fail
to follow up on signs that these children were ill?
Why didn’t they ask for the latest medical records
on the children ? These concerns speak to the core
culture of the division,” said Cecilia Zalkind,
executive director of the Association for Children
ofNew Jersey, a child advocacy group.
Agencies in other states have had similar
tragedies and ordered reforms. But New Jersey’s
child-care system continues to confront such hor
rific abuses despite additional staff members and
emergency funding.
Susan Lambiasej an attorney for Children’s
Rights who sued the state in 1999, called New
Jersey’s child welfare agency one of the worst
in the nation.
"This was one of the worst I have ever seen.
It’s inconceivable
how a caseworker
could go there and
not detect these
atrocious
conditions.
— James E. McGreevey
New Jersey governor
It’s still very bad,” she said. “We knew it was a
system that had been in crisis for over a decade.
We know that a lot has to be done. This horror
story that we are all learning about exemplifies
that it’s worse than we all imagined.”
New Jersey’s Division of Youth and Family
Services came under intense pressure for reform
when the body of 7-year-old Faheem Williams
was found decomposed in a storage box in a
Newark basement. His twin brother and their 4-
year-old half brother were discovered alive but
emaciated in an adjoining room.
In 1999, Children’s Rights
filed a class-action lawsuit against
the state to force refonns.
The state settled that lawsuit
and agreed to review all child wel
fare cases — more than 14,000.
During those inspections, 31 chil
dren were removed from their
own homes, foster care and other
living arrangements.
DYFS supervises 58,582 chil
dren, including youngsters await
ing adoption. Critics con
tend the latest refonns and the
safety inspections are not enough.
State inspectors said they are
reviewing all reports filed by the
DYFS caseworkers and managers who visited the
Collingswood house. All caseworkers are
required to offer extensive reports detailing the
condition of each child and house they visit. DYFS
managers in each field office must review those
reports and consult each case worker on each
child’s status. Both practices were ordered after
officials learned DYFS caseworkers did not visit
the Williams children.
“People who made bad decisions will be held
accountable,” McGreevey said Monday. The
19-year-old remained hospitalized Monday in a
cardiac unit, while the other boys, ages 14, 10 and
9, were doing well in foster homes, Camden
County Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi said on
ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
Authorities said the boys were locked out of
the kitchen and fed a diet of uncooked pancake
batter, peanut butter and jelly and cereal. The
boys told investigators they also gnawed on wall-
board and insulation. They were found after a
neighbor discovered Jackson rummaging
through trash for food.
Twins' condition
upgraded, now
guarded'
DALLAS (AP) — The condi
tions of Egyptian twins
Ahmed and Mohamed
Ibrahim were upgraded from
serious to guarded Sunday as
they continued to recover
from surgery two weeks ago
to separate them.
The 2-year-old boys were
born joined at the head.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Dr. James Thomas, chief of
critical care services at
Children’s Medical Center
Dallas, said both boys contin
ue to improve.
Mohamed is off all intra
venous medications, the hos
pital said in a Web site update
Sunday night. Ahmed could be
taken off the IV medications
Monday. Both children are tol
erating full formula feedings.
“Mohamed’s therapy is
going well and today he was
able to throw toys with his left
hand at various staff mem
bers when they got in range,”
Thomas said. He said
Mohamed giggled and
laughed when playing the
games.
The hospital said Ahmed is
undergoing therapy workouts
twice a day and is making
good progress. Thomas said
much of their days is spent
with therapy and resting.
The twins were separated in
a 34-hour procedure that
ended Oct. 12.
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