Letters
Let’s take action to protect America’s borders

The following is an open letter to President George W. Bush. It is beyond belief that on one side of the pendulum we have our wonderful military dying for the fight against terrorism in the world, and on the other side of the pendulum we have advisers wanting to shut down Fort Monmouth and other bases in New Jersey that are needed to fight terrorism.

Are we not at the center of terrorism in New Jersey and New York, or have you forgotten completely about the over 3,000 people who perished in 9/11?

Instead of closing military bases that are needed in the fight against terrorism, we should be strengthening them and securing our borders. How many terrorists are sneaking across the borders of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Cali-fornia? Plus those coming in through Canada. What are you doing about this?

Maybe you can take a page from the book of President Roosevelt, when he started CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) and start a program called ICP – Immigration Civilian Patrol.

Hopefully your advisers realize that with helping all other countries, we must first protect this one and not use all our resources protecting others.

Ross W. Smith

Brick

Latest DYFS problems show need for community involvement

Two years ago, dramatic events brought a growing crisis in the New Jersey child welfare system to the attention of our public and policy makers.

In response, the New Jersey chapter of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW-NJ) asked child welfare experts to join in a series of “best practice” symposia to examine successes and propose solutions to improving our state’s child welfare system.

Then, as now, we believe that building a better child welfare system requires teamwork and cooperation by consumers, service providers, public officials, advocates and concerned citizens.

Today, as attorneys for Children’s Rights Inc. and the court-appointed Child Welfare Panel argue with the Department of Human Services about the steps needed to address DYFS’ (Division of Youth and Family Services) shortcomings, we recognize, once again, that the solution lies in the community.

This crisis at DYFS, which has developed over decades, will not be solved quickly. Throwing money at the problem or mandating change from a legislative chamber or a courtroom simply won’t work.

This is a multifaceted crisis that demands a multipronged approach, with many community partners working as one. And one of the first areas that we must address as concerned citizens is how to ensure that DYFS has trained, qualified staff.

All too often we find that DYFS staff lacks the appropriate education or experience needed for quality casework with at-risk children and families. In fact, when the initial distressing reports on DYFS surfaced in 2003, only one in five staff members had master’s or bachelor’s degrees in social work.

Recently NASW-NJ, working with New Jersey’s schools of Social Work, helped to create a consortium with federal funds to address this lack of professionally trained staff in DYFS.

Some social work schools, such as Richard Stockton College, have developed a relationship to intern and then place social work students into DYFS positions.

Problems in our state’s child welfare systems — the result of decades of inaction — won’t go away tomorrow, or even next year. But we need to make a good start through public, private and governmental partnerships at the community level.

Court action won’t solve the DYFS problem, but community action will. And we need to begin today to ensure that happens.

Walter X. Kalman

executive director

New Jersey chapter

National Association

of Social Workers

Hamilton