Governor Mikie Sherrill • Lt. Governor Dr. Dale G. Caldwell
Divisions & Offices

In response to a national mental wellness crisis in youth and young adults, the New Jersey Department of Children and Families has proposed to launch a statewide, innovative hub-and-spoke model of services and resources intended to support youth mental wellness and promote prevention initiatives (prevention of bullying, prevention of teen suicide, prevention of substance use, etc...).

The new model, the NJ Statewide Student Support Services (NJ4S) network, would create 15 regional hubs, aligned along court vicinages and Children’s System of Care service areas, to support statewide delivery of prevention services in schools, as well as other locations in the community including but not limited to: libraries, community centers, faith-based-organizations and family success centers.  The hubs would be the administrative and organizational center, staffed by a director, support staff, prevention specialists and mental health counselors who will be mobilized to delivery services locally, when and where they are needed, both in school and community settings.  Most importantly the hub staff will have the ability to connect students and their parents/caregivers with other community services, both clinical and non-clinical, beneficial to student social, emotional and mental health and well-being

NJ DCF has issued a number of resources about this new proposal, downloadable from the menu on this page. The Department of Children and Families also solicited public comment on this important initiative from Friday, October 7, 2022 through Friday, October 21, 2022.  The department has reviewed and has been responsive to that feedback, and is eager to move forward with the NJ4S concept, to effectively and efficiently provide mental wellbeing supports and prevention services to New Jersey’s 1.4 million students and their families.

NOTE: The NJ Child Assault Prevention (NJ CAP) program is now part of NJ4S! Schools can find more information about the NJCAP program at dcf/families/assault, or they can apply to have programming delivered to their schools via the online NJ CAP Application.

 

DCF on the Air Podcast Episode on NJ4S

The New Jersey Child Assault Prevention (NJ CAP) Program is an initiative to bring violence prevention strategies to New Jersey's youth and families statewide. Since 1985, NJ CAP has trained children, parents, and teachers around strategies to prevent bullying, peer-to-peer violence, child abduction, and maltreatment.

NJ CAP seeks to integrate the best resources of a community in an effort to reduce a child's or young person's vulnerability to verbal, physical and sexual assault. NJ CAP works closely with local school districts, parent / teacher associations, home school groups, and other community stakeholders to empower and protect New Jersey's young people. NJ CAP has a threefold educational approach to prevention which includes trainings in: staff in-service, parent programs, and individual classroom workshops for children and teens.

EXCITING NEWS: NJ CAP is now part of NJ4S!
The Department of Children and Families is excited to align this historic initiative with the successful NJ Statewide Student Support Services (NJ4S) network, to further expand the service offerings and prevention programming of NJ4S and integrate NJ CAP into the regionalized hub-and-spoke model available throughout the state of NJ! NJ CAP will continue to be available to all schools, public and non-public, and all grade levels as it has in the past, with a continued focus on elementary schools.

Schools can sign up to receive NJ CAP programming at the online NJ CAP Application.

For more information about NJ4S, visit dcf/nj4s.html

 

School Linked Services (SLS) Working Group Materials and Recommendations
SLS Materials and Recommendations 

Advisory Group Membership
Membership  

In order to support the ongoing success of the NJ Statewide Student Support Services (NJ4S) Network, the Department of Children and Families has compiled the below list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) to respond to common post-launch inquiries about the program.  This information will be updated from time to time to reflect the most recent information available for this program.

Last updated: 11-14-23

Superintendents and schools should submit contact information via this SurveyMonkey form . It will ask for a primary and secondary representative for each school and district. The information to be provided includes a First Name, Last Name, Title, and E-mail Address.  You need to do this BEFORE services are requested so that delays can be avoided. Please note that the security features of the information system require a unique email address for each school and a unique email address for each school district. Once the contact information is provided it will take approximately 7-10 business days before you receive log in directions to get access to the NJ4S portal.

Schools eligible to complete the survey are public middle and high schools and K-8 schools (only for the upper 6-8 grades). This also includes charter schools. Elementary schools and private schools are not listed in the survey because they are not eligible to apply for Tier 2 and Tier 3 services. However, ALL schools can access the NJ4S Portal to locate Tier 1 services.

The mechanized application system for NJ4S is for public middle and high schools and the upper grades of k-8 schools.  Elementary schools (k5, k-6) are excluded from NJ4S Tier 2 and Tier 3 services, which is why the elementary schools are not included in the survey.  However, NJ4S Tier 1 services are available to all students, caregivers and schools K-12.  No application for Tier 1 programs is required (no need to access the information system). Offerings are available for viewing on the NJ4S Portal.

If you are having trouble logging in to the NJ4S Portal after you receive your login instructions, please reach out to the njspirithelpdesk@dcf.nj.gov.  For non-technical issues or questions, please email NJ4SFeedback@DCF.NJ.gov.

Tier 2 prevention services and Tier 3 brief intervention services are available to middle and high school students, their parents/caregivers, and their school faculty in NJ4S participating schools. An application must be submitted by the school’s designated NJ4S representative to be considered for these services.  Once the application is submitted, NJ4S staff from the assigned Hub will meet with the school representative regarding the application and determine whether NJ4S services or a referral to a community resource can be provided.

The NJ4S program is designed to have a single point of contact, per school, to serve as a liaison to the NJ4S hub.  Having a single point of contact for each school will help to avoid multiple requests from each school.  It will also ensure that the requests for prevention programming are vetted internally by the school and that there is a clear point of contact for hub staff that are interacting with many schools and districts simultaneously.  NJ4S puts the school in the driver’s seat with the application for services, but one driver at a time will help to ensure clear communication between the school and the hub.  The school representative can be changed at any time within the system.  This change does not require returning to the survey that we have used to gather initial point of contact information.

The system build for NJ4S has security features in place that require each school to have its own representative, with a unique email address. In instances for which a single individual may have a role in determining applications across different schools within a district, it is still necessary that a unique school representative be identified for each school.

School District Representatives cannot apply for services but have access to dashboards and reports of NJ4S activity happening in the school(s) within the district.  To fully benefit from NJ4S, school districts should sign up both a district representative, that will have dashboard information about NJ4S activities in the school district, and a school representative, that will be able to apply for services for the school.  Please note that a district representative cannot also serve as a school representative.

Please contact us at NJ4SFeedback@dcf.nj.gov so we can help to facilitate a solution.

Training videos on navigating and using the NJ4S Portal are available on YouTube:

The 86 Schools with a DCF-funded school-based youth services program may not apply for targeted evidence-based prevention programs and brief interventions (Tier 2 and Tier 3 services) through NJ4S.  The remainder of the middle and high schools and 6-8 grades of K-8 schools in the district are eligible for all NJ4S services.  If a school in your district is receiving other specialized services, it does not preclude it from applying for NJ4S programming.  Hubs will want to make certain, in responding to school requests, that they are not duplicating efforts or interfering with other, already-established relationships.

Access to the NJ4S information system for application to prevention and brief intervention services (Tier 2 and Tier 3 Services) is available only to public schools.   All schools, students and caregivers will have access to Tier 1 services, which do not require an application for services, therefore access to the information system is not needed.  Tier 1 Services will be advertised for all hubs on the NJ4S Portal.

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