Somerset Home for Temporarily Displaced Children
Jeffrey Fetzko, ACSW, LSW, CFRE
Vol. 6, No. 6, March 20, 2008
The Executive Director's News is published every two weeks, and is specifically written for the employees, board of trustees and friends of the Somerset Home. This issue and past issues are available on our web site at http://www.somersethome.org/main/pages/employee_newsletter.htm.
Employee Benefit - Reduced Rates on Auto Insurance
Did you know that as a member of the Somerset Home for Temporarily Displaced Children staff you are eligible for reduced rates on auto insurance through New Jersey Manufacturer's Insurance Company? New Jersey Manufacturers is the largest personal auto insurance companies in New Jersey is among the lowest cost. Click on the link above to find out more about the program. Please email Priscilla for any additional information you may need.
Eileen Crummy Appointed Acting Commissioner of DCF
The following email was sent from Eileen Crummy, Acting DCF Commissioner. Eileen transitioned from DYFS Director to DCF Acting Commissioner on Monday, March 17, 2008.
Dear DCF Colleagues,
Last week Governor Jon S. Corzine asked that I serve as the Acting Commissioner of the Department of Children and Families (DCF). Governor Corzine has made child welfare reform one of the top priorities of his administration and I am grateful for the confidence that he has expressed in me.
Many of you may know that I have spent my entire career working with the Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS), starting in 1975 as a protective service caseworker in Middlesex County. Serving vulnerable children and their families has been a challenging yet rewarding career, and I will always be proud to have been a member of the DYFS and entire DCF team.
Many exciting things have happened since DCF was created in July 2006. As you know, we negotiated a new Modified Settlement Agreement (MSA), which allowed us to first focus on the fundamentals and achieve manageable caseloads for our DYFS caseworkers, enhance staff training, expand services for children and families in all DCF divisions, and increase the number of adoptions and resource families to record numbers.
New Jersey's child welfare system also is markedly better now because of the progress DCF has made in building in-state services and capacity to serve children with behavioral heath needs close to home and establishing a strong, statewide network of prevention and family support services. We have achieved this success for many reasons, including: a solid plan, the smart allocation of resources and the hard work and dedication of the DCF workforce who make good things happen for children and families each and every day.
I also clearly know that the support of our community providers and partners, child welfare advocates and New Jersey's legislative leaders has been vital to making this progress a reality.
We are now at the critical juncture of implementing DCF's Case Practice Model (CPM). The CPM is the heart and soul of New Jersey's child welfare reform and key to our future success in achieving better outcomes for children and families. It will fundamentally change our practice and dramatically increase the voice and strengths of families in the decisions we make about their lives and children. As DYFS Director I routinely heard how excited staff are about the practice changes and I know that we are off to a very good start.
Much difficult work is ahead of us, but I have confidence that together we will keep up the momentum that has begun, so that families get what they need to stay strong and safely care for their children. I am honored and look forward to working with all of you in this important effort.
Finally, I would like to thank former Commissioner Kevin Ryan for his outstanding leadership over the past two years. He was always there for New Jersey's children and families as well as for all of us. We will miss him.
Please don't hesitate to reach out to me at: dcf_commissioner@dcf.state.nj.us, if you would like to share any suggestions or concerns.
Best regards,
Eileen Crummy
Acting Commissioner
Department of Children and Families
Passages Bathroom Project "Back on Track"
Many of you who have been inconvenienced by the bathrooms being down at Passages have probably noticed the work had stopped for several weeks. Due to a problem with the workmanship of the contractor we had to shut down the job, tear out a lot of work that had been done incorrectly and generally recalibrate our expectations with the contractor. I am happy to report that the President of the construction company has assigned a new foreman to the project and the project is back on track.
I really want to thank everyone for their patience. Really, everyone has been creative and simply marvelous about handling this major inconvenience. I expect that we will see some real progress in the coming weeks.
Executive Director Training
It was my very great pleasure to meet seven of our newest staff on Tuesday during two sessions of the Executive Director Training. For those of you who may be interested in reviewing the power point I have posted the latest version on the web site.
Executive Director Training 2008
As always, thank you all for your continued hard work on behalf of our youth.
