The project is an excellent match between faculty expertise and the needs of the state: ensuring the safety, stability, and well-being of children and families across New Jersey.

“We’re honored to be trusted with this work,” said Zeitlin. “We see this not just as a two-year project, but the beginning of a long-term collaboration to improve the lives of children and families across New Jersey.”

Supporting a Historic Transition in NJ Child Welfare Oversight

In 2006, New Jersey’s child welfare system came under federal oversight following widespread concerns about its performance. Over the next several years, the state made sweeping changes and improvements under the guidance of a federal monitor. When federal oversight ended, stakeholders created a legislative plan to maintain and build on those gains.

In 2022, state legislation charged the Staffing and Oversight Review Subcommittee (SORS) with producing annual performance reports on the child welfare system’s effectiveness in key areas — a responsibility now supported by Montclair State’s expert faculty.

“I am very proud of our faculty,” said CHSS Dean Fatma Mili. “They are investing their research expertise on some of the most important issues, the welfare of the most vulnerable members of our society. Their work has long lasting lessons and an immediate impact on our society. Professors Zeitlin, Douglas, and Shpiegel are a great example of how a public university can serve the public good.”

Faculty Expertise, National Context

Drawing on deep knowledge of national child welfare trends and access to federal data sets, Montclair’s team will contextualize New Jersey’s progress within a broader national landscape. Their work will include replicating and refining previous analyses, enhancing data storytelling, and helping SORS produce reports that are not only technically rigorous but also accessible and meaningful to stakeholders across the system.

“This work is not just about data — it’s about making sure the data tells the story of what is happening right now, and what is needed to best support children and families who come in contact with the child welfare system,” says Shpiegel.

In year two, the project will expand to incorporate additional indicators and responsibilities outlined in state legislation, with the goal of building a long-term evaluation structure that supports ongoing system improvement.

A Transformative Opportunity for Students and the State

The project also creates rare hands-on opportunities for Montclair students, who will gain exposure to the policy, evaluation, and systems-level challenges facing New Jersey’s child welfare agencies.

“Working directly with faculty on this project, our students will learn how research and evaluation can serve communities and drive real-world change,” says Douglas.

Develop strong knowledge and skills in social work practice including:

• Hands-on experience in prevention and intervention methods
• Practicum learning hours to connect online learning with supervised practice in a social work setting
• Specialized training in serving the needs of children, youth and families to positively impact communities
• Coursework applicable to New Jersey licensure for Social Worker, Clinical Social Worker, or certified School Social Worker

“Montclair is pleased to be responsive to the evolving needs of our students,” says , Interim Department Chair, Social Work and Child Advocacy. “There is a critical need for mental health professionals and this unique program helps address this shortage and serve our diverse children, families and communities.”

Our ����vlog programs are designed with you in mind. As a busy professional, expect an engaged, flexible online learning experience with the support you need to succeed. With our online social work degree, you will have the flexibility to balance your busy lives as you gain valuable skills in communication, critical thinking, empathy, ethical decision-making, and culturally-responsive assessment and intervention. You will also have the opportunity to customize your elective coursework to build additional competencies based on your interests. These courses include school social work, trauma-informed practice, forensic interviewing of children, and many more.

The Online MSW program includes practicum education, which provides a unique opportunity for students to integrate classroom learning with a supervised practice experience in various social work settings. Students will complete two practicum experiences that are completed in person (on-site) and are completed during daytime business hours. Students will have the opportunity to complete their practicum placements at a wide range of settings including but not limited to mental health centers, non-profit agencies, school settings, hospitals and much more

Learn more about the Master of Social Work concentration in Children, Youth and Families and start your path towards a rewarding career.

*Montclair’s on-ground program is accredited by the and we are currently seeking CSWE accreditation for the online program option.

The ambitious goal of the strategic planning efforts will be to produce the first state-level food strategic plan in the country that is based on this definition and the six dimensions of food security (access, availability, utilization, stability, sustainability and agency). After considering many stakeholders and partners, and with the approval of the Governor’s office, OFSA believes that Dr. Ast’s experience as a researcher and evaluator in both the university settings and within a state agency would make her a valuable contributor to the executive committee.

If you’re interested in learning more about the dimensions of food security, please visit .

Panelists

Erica Fischer-Kaslander, Executive Director, Child Focus

Santiago Gonzalez, Casework Supervisor, New Jersey Department of Children and Families, Division of Child Protection and Permanency

Kelly Klinger, Member Engagement Specialist, New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault

Moderator: , Associate Teaching Professor, Department of Social Work and Child Advocacy at ����vlog and Director of Statewide Initiatives, New Jersey Children’s Alliance

Register to attend

Why Attend?

• Learn about challenges and opportunities in child advocacy emerging from current trends
• Explore dynamic career paths in child advocacy
• Interact directly with alumni of the program
• Gain insight into the benefits of the Online Master’s in Child Advocacy and Policy

On her decision to invite Dr. Douglas, Dr. Gushwa says, “Emily is an international expert on child maltreatment facilities and policy & research…She brought a new perspective to Ireland (with) both of her talks. I know Emily to be an engaging speaker, and she did not disappoint. Faculty, students and members of the community are still talking about her presentations and panels. She has started new conversations that will serve us well for some time to come.”

Douglas presented two discussions entitled From Darkness to Light: Preventing Child Maltreatment Fatalities in the United States and Two Ships Passing in the Night: How Researchers Can Bring Evidence to Policy-Makers. 

From Darkness to Light: Preventing Maltreatment Fatalities in the United States discussed the existing knowledge surrounding child maltreatment fatalities in the U.S. and adds essential contextual information regarding victims, perpetrators, family units, and prevalence rates. Dr. Douglas also explored existing intervention points, their success rates, and where blind spots remain with regards to the child welfare and criminal justice systems, child death review teams, safe haven laws, and preventative measures.

Finding gaps at the “intersection of social science research and policy,” Dr. Douglas discussed how to connect the two in Two Ships Passing in the Night: How Researchers Can Bring Evidence to Policy-Makers. She pursued the idea that scholarly based work can be communicated to legislators to help them in developing policies and programs that are substantiated in research.

“I hope that my presentations brought new information about high-risk families and the different approaches that have been implemented in the U.S. to reduce risk to children,” says Dr. Douglas.

Dr. Douglas found the collaborative experience, as well as the opening of the Center for Community Research and Innovation, exciting and inspiring, saying, “So often, universities work in communities for only as long as there is funding and this center plans to work over the long-term.”

This graduate certificate will introduce students to the concept of harm reduction, discuss a range of harm reduction services and programs in the United States and beyond, and offer practical training on non-stigmatizing, social justice-oriented, and trauma-informed engagement strategies with people who use drugs. The certificate consists of three, 3-credit courses (i.e., 9 credits in total), offered in an asynchronous online format to provide optimal flexibility for students and professionals from various human service disciplines.

• Date/Time: Thursday, August 31, 2023 at 12:00 PM
• Location: Virtual, Zoom – registration is required

Read More About the Certificate

This project builds upon a previous successful collaboration between ����vlog, Westchester Institute for Human Development, and Boston University. The partnership was so successful that it was featured as a model in Children’s Voice, a magazine published by the Child Welfare League of America.

In the United States, little is done to identify and provide reasonable accommodations to parents with intellectual disabilities who are involved in child welfare systems, and very few services are available with these families’ unique needs in mind. In fact, little is known about parents with intellectual disabilities more generally. All of this may be attributed, at least in part, to the stigma and discrimination these folks experience in many facets of life.

A small program called Project IMPACT in Valhalla, New York, was designed specifically to meet the needs of this population. It is an intensive in-home program that teaches parenting skills in real-life settings. In Zeitlin’s previous collaboration that was funded by Boston University’s Center for Innovation in Social Work and Health, their research found that 88% of all families participating in Project IMPACT and 98% of families completing the program remained intact one year after ending the program (i.e., their children were not placed in foster care). Those findings, however, are not enough to show that Project IMPACT was actually responsible for those high rates of success. The award that was received from NIH will allow us to determine whether Project IMPACT is actually effective at reducing foster care placement for this high-risk population.

WHAT WE ARE DOING

The Department actively stands with all who advocate for racial justice and seek reform of all systems that oppress and institutionalize racism. As a department, we recognize the continuing need to confront our own biases in our efforts to challenge racial injustice at all levels.

• The calls for social workers to “act to prevent and eliminate domination of, exploitation of, and discrimination against any person, group, or class on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, political belief, religion, immigration status, or mental or physical ability.”
• Similarly, the , Principle E states “Psychologists respect the dignity and worth of all people, and the rights of individuals to privacy, confidentiality, and self-determination… Psychologists are aware of and respect cultural, individual, and role differences, including those based on age, gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity, culture, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, language, and socioeconomic status, and consider these factors when working with members of such groups.”
• The lays out in Section 8.4, that it amounts to professional misconduct for a lawyer to “engage in conduct that the lawyer knows or reasonably should know is harassment or discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status or socioeconomic status in conduct related to the practice of law.”

We apply these policies using cultural humility (Yeager & Bauer-Wu, 2013): We strive to be life-long learners; we challenge racial barriers and power imbalances that result in systematic injustice; and we promote institutional accountability. Using this framework, here are some of the steps we plan to take that represent these efforts.

Lifelong Learning and Self-Reflection. We recognize and are committing to understanding better the myriad ways that systemic oppression affects our perceptions and lived experiences. We also acknowledge that oppression is existent in systemic structures, including in institutions of higher education and their academic programs. Therefore, we strive to be life-long learners and demonstrate our commitment to our professional and personal growth regarding adopting antiracist practices. For example, we:

• Call on all members of our community, especially our White community members, to educate themselves about racial justice and find opportunities to engage in work for social change.
• Collaborate with the Office of Social Justice and Diversity and other departments and offices to establish training and professional development opportunities for students, staff, and both full-time and part-time faculty.
• Look to the University Senate’s Land Acknowledgement Committee for guidance on how to recognize the presence of the university on unceded Lenape territory in ways that actively support decolonization.
• Continuously reflect, reevaluate, and revise our curriculum and course offerings to thoroughly incorporate topics relevant to challenges persistent in society today. This would include a more honest and critical discussion of the histories of our fields, including a recognition of the ways that helping professionals have both perpetuated and challenged racism within the profession.
• Organize resources and make them easily accessible for faculty, students, and staff.
• Ensure that our courses reflect Black and BIPOC scholarship, and model strategies for students to confront their biases and engage in anti-racist practice and policy.

Challenging Power Imbalances. We reaffirm our commitment to anti-racist policy and practice and always confront and challenge power imbalances that lead to unequal and disproportionate outcomes. With this in mind, we:

• Will form a Diversity Advocacy Workgroup, consisting of both faculty and staff student representation, to represent the Department’s continuing commitment to antiracism in teaching, hiring, and community outreach.
• Will have a diversity advocate serve on each search committee in our department. The primary responsibility of the diversity advocate is to be a vocal and responsible advocate for diversity and inclusion throughout the search process.
• Create a Canvas site with resources on antiracism available for all Department members.
• Empower diverse voices from our local communities, including our current and former students, staff, and faculty, and community stakeholders and give these voices space in a shared governance system.
• Seek direct ways for our efforts to have community impact, including community outreach with collaboration of the Center for Community Engagement to promote field work that addresses community-level needs.
• Ensure students have a safe space to communicate and discuss sensitive topics pertaining to racism and divisive hate on campus.
• Ensure students have equal opportunity to field placements and other professional growth opportunities.
• Commit to the recruitment, support, and retention of BIPOC faculty and staff at all levels of hiring in the department.

Maintaining Institutional Accountability. Finally, we will prioritize processes that are geared toward ensuring institutional accountability in addressing racial and socioeconomic disparities as outcomes to their practices. To do this, we:

• Actively engage in scholarship and evaluation of the racial disparities and social injustices in today’s world, with a particular emphasis on the domains of social services that target children, youth and families of color.
• Ensure our faculty members take part in university committees and outreach to address injustices and promote policy development and implementation that is fair and just.
• Encourage students, staff, faculty, and other members of the university community to speak up as agents of change and contact elected public representatives to influence policy issues.
• We commit to regular self-assessments, both internal and external, that evaluate the success of our efforts to promote racial justice both within and beyond the Department.

We take pride and are humbled by our responsibility of preparing the next generation of practitioners for the richly diverse world that they will inherit as graduates of our programs and experience as change agents in their professional careers. We also acknowledge it is our responsibility to maintain a culturally respectful and inclusive educational environment for all members of our department. Therefore, we embrace diversity and respect for all, while challenging epistemologies and policies that inadvertently promote racism and divisive hate in everything we do.

~ The Faculty and Staff of the Department of Social Work and Child Advocacy

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” —Nelson Mandela

References

Franklin, A. J., & Boyd-Franklin, N. (2000). Invisibility syndrome : A clinical model of the effects of racism on African-American males. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 70(1), 33–41.

McCoy, H. (2020). Black Lives Matter, and Yes, You are Racist: The Parallelism of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal. 37, 463-475.

Yeager, K. A., & Bauer-Wu, S. (2013). Cultural humility: essential foundation for clinical researchers. Applied Nursing Research, 26(4), 251–256.

“I am honored to have been chosen to serve New Jersey’s most vulnerable children in this capacity,” says Monagas. “I am excited to be part of this community of professionals working towards creating positive change and ensuring better outcomes for children involved with the child welfare system.”

Among the task force’s duties will be to review the practices and policies used by the Division of Child Protection and Permanency and the Division of Family and Community Partnerships within the New Jersey Department of Children and Families.

The goals include developing a statewide plan to prevent child abuse and neglect and mechanisms to facilitate prevention strategies; better educating the public on issues of child abuse and neglect; and optimizing the coordination of services and investigations to help ensure timely determination of alleged abuse.

“Many people do not know what child abuse and neglect look like, because most of the time it is not obvious,” says Monagas. “We need to better educate citizens of the warning signs, and, more importantly, what they should do and where they should go when they see them.”

A member of the Montclair State faculty since 2009, Monagas is a clinical specialist in the McCormick Center for Child Advocacy and Policy where, in addition to teaching, she supervises the practicum experience for undergraduate child advocacy and policy majors. Monagas is also the executive director of the , a statewide nonprofit that promotes hope, healing and justice for victims of child abuse by supporting Child Advocacy Centers with training, resources, advocacy and leadership.

“The Department of Social Work and Child Advocacy is so proud to have Dr. Monagas join the NJ Governor’s Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect,” says Emily Douglas, chairperson of the Department of Social Work and Child Advocacy at Montclair State. “It is well-deserved. Dr. Monagas is highly knowledgeable and connected in the field of child abuse and neglect and she will bring a high level of expertise and skill to her role with the Task Force. She is an excellent role model for our students, showing that the work to protect children and to create resilient families requires engagement with all levels of community and government. Without a doubt, she will do important work and the children of New Jersey will be safer for her engagement.”

To learn more about ����vlog’s programs in social work and child advocacy, visit montclair.edu/social-work-and-child-advocacy.

The recent events at the Capitol do not reflect the values of faculty and staff in the Department of Social Work & Child Advocacy and they are the antithesis of the values that we try to engender in our students and graduates. As educators, we take inspiration from Dr. King, who that “the function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character -that is the goal of true education.” This is what we want for our students and how we frame the education that we provide for them in our department and in our communities.

We recognize the role of Whiteness in these events,both in the ways that they were carried out and in the ways that we interpret them. There were many symbols from the white nationalist movement, including anti-Black and anti-Semitic imagery, which we condemn. These are stark reminders that as a society, we have failed to effectively confront White supremacy.

As individuals and professionals who are dedicated to social justice through our chosen fields of social work and child advocacy, we use critical thinking skills to carefully evaluate claims of truth. We know that working towards social justice means reckoning with, not ignoring, the long history and continuing reality of racism and violence in this country.

As a bright light, we believe that we are living in a period of time that can be transformative for how we think and talk about history, racism, science, equality, and democracy. This is an opportunity for change. Even as we struggle with recent violent events, we embrace the opportunities that are presented to us today. Thus, we close with a quote from Dr. King, who in 1963, “Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away, that the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities, and that in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all of their scintillating beauty.”

~ The faculty and staff of the Department of Social Work & Child Advocacy

January 21, 2021