FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE       
August 24, 2009
MEDIA CONTACT: Kate Bernyk

Press Office: (609) 633-8507

DCF RESPONSE TO THE NJ CHILD FATALITY AND NEAR FATALITY REVIEW BOARD’S 2008 ANNUAL REPORT

“We welcome the recommendations put forth by the Child Fatality and Near Fatality Review Board, and will be exploring ways to use this multi-disciplinary team’s review to further support improvements to the state’s child welfare system,” DCF Commissioner Kimberly Ricketts said.

The Review Board recommendations touch on priority areas for the department, including abuse prevention services to protect younger children and efforts to strengthen case practice across the department. DCF has, over the last several years, expanded services and programs to prevent injury or harm to infants and young children – including the expansion of home visitation programs and Family Success Centers statewide.

“We also look forward to a more robust and collaborative approach to the Review Board’s annual reports. The new process, which will be reflected in the next annual report to be released in 2010, will strengthen the work of the Board, improve its operation, ensure an expeditious review of serious cases of abuse and neglect and marshal the significant expertise and resources of the Board,” Ricketts said.

In addition to collaborating with the Review Board and OCA on the new unified approach, DCF has also posted to the department’s Web site individual public reports for child fatalities due to child abuse or neglect that occurred between July 2006 – December 2008. These reports will now be proactively posted on an
annual basis here: http://www.nj.gov/dcf/abuse/fatalities/. Individual reports will still be released upon request to the DCF Office of Communications.

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