Documents Released Detailing Abuse and Neglect of New Jersey Foster Children by Staff While Living i

PRESS RELEASE

Documents released today provide, for the first time, details on how children placed by New Jersey's Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) in a range of institutions were abused and neglected by staff members themselves. The substantiated reports of abuse and neglect from a range of institutions (residential facilities, group homes, shelters, detention centers, and a day camp) were collected during discovery and ordered released by the judge in a class action lawsuit Charlie and Nadine H. v. McGreevey, U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

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The 2,400 pages from case files offer details of the abuse and neglect, including the following:

*A 12-year-old boy on "Red Alert" (meaning he required close supervision) told the worker he wanted to die. After the child placed plastic in his mouth, the worker removed the plastic but did not notify his supervisors of the child's suicidal verbalizations or actions. The child then attempted to hang himself in his room, while the worker sat in a hallway chair doing paperwork. YCS Holley Center (Hackensack, Bergen County)

*A staff member picked up a 16-year-old girl on a home visit on Christmas and had sexual intercourse with her in a motel parking lot. YES Residential (Blackwood, Camden County)
A 10-year old boy sustained multiple bruises and abrasions when a staff member grabbed him by the wrist and shirt, pulled him off a table causing the child to hit the floor head first five feet away on a carpeted concrete floor. Ranch Hope (Alloway, Salem County)

*A staff member provided vodka to four teenaged residents, who became intoxicated. The residents gave money to the worker, who apparently provided the alcohol in a Gatorade bottle. Vision Quest (New Lisbon, Burlington County)

*A 17-year-old boy performed oral sex on a 13-year-old boy after sneaking into his room during the night. The staff member did not conduct visual checks on residents during the night as required and falsified overnight bed checks for that night, claiming he observed the older boy sleeping, even though the boy was in the other child's room. Catholic Charities Central Regional Referral and Assessment Center (Liberty Corner, Somerset County)

*Four boys (aged 6-10) performed oral sex and attempted to sodomize each other. The staff member would take a pillow, lie down in front of the boys' room, and fall asleep for hours at a time, while another staff member would do laundry or chores, leaving the residents unattended. TRIS Ginger Grove II (Berlin, Camden County)

Children's Rights works throughout the United States in partnership with national and local experts, advocates and government officials to document the needs of children in the care of child welfare systems. Children's Rights helps develop realistic solutions and, where necessary, uses the power of litigation to ensure that reform takes place.