About Our Cause

The shortage of crucial social services workers has had a butterfly effect of worsening a child's experience in the foster care system. While this is a prominent issue that states all over the nation face, it is a critical problem especially for the state of New Jersey. According to the Department of Children and Families of NJ, turnover rates, stress, and caseloads have increased while workforce morale and social service staff have decreased. As caseworkers are burdened with more and more cases to handle, they are often unable to give the utmost care and attention to each individual family. It has also been difficult for the DCF to find and employ more caseworkers and staff.

Ultimately, the burdened and overworked social service workers of NJ deserve something better. We must work together and fight for more funding and staff to be allocated to the Department of Children and Families to ensure that both the children and caseworkers of the NJ foster care system are able to receive and provide the best care possible.

Learn more about this issue at: https://www.nj.gov/dcf/workforce_analysis.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

The Facts

1

The forecasted demand for social workers will grow exponentially and increase to its height within the next five years.

As the demand of social service increases, it is only natural that there will be a need for more of that supply. There is a crucial demand for social service workers!

2

Turnover rates for the current staff of the NJ DCF are higher than ever, while 25% of the employed are nearing retirement.

This means that in the near future, much of the NJ DCF staff will be gone, leaving even more caseloads on the backs of the rest of the staff.

3

According to the DCF Report for Direct Service Providers, of the staff that will leave, 15% are leaving the workforce entirely while another 15% will leave to a different industry.

As crucial staff are leaving, it is important to find enough staff to replace them.

4

Caseworkers don't feel appreciated. One caseworker revealed that compared to NY, NJ wasn't appreciating nor thanking the caseworkers for their hard work.

Caseworkers deserve to be appreciated and respected for the hard work they do.

Resources:

To learn more about the Department of Children and Families, visit https:

//www.nj.gov/dcf/