Amid downward trend, Black and Hispanic children account for majority of population in New Jersey’s foster care system

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The majority of children in New Jersey’s foster care system are Black and Hispanic, according to a WHYY News analysis. Camden and Essex counties have the highest number of placements in the state; Black children are the dominant group in those counties. Latino children represent the largest number of placements in Middlesex, Hudson and Passaic counties.

Regions that are mostly rural or along the shore see the largest proportion of white children in foster care, with Ocean, Monmouth and Gloucester counties at the top of the list. The number of Hispanic children in placement increased by 8.5% between 2020 and 2024, while the number of Black children placed decreased by .5% over the same period.

Overall, children ages 6 to 12 have the highest number of placements, across racial lines.

The information was culled from the New Jersey Child Welfare Data Hub.

As with adoptions, the number of children entering foster care in New Jersey has been trending downward since 2021. According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Garden State has the lowest number of children in foster care in the country, with a rate of 1.4 in the system for every 1,000.

The state is also making efforts to keep children with their birth families through kinship placements.

Overreporting families and children of color to child protection

Under New Jersey law, all residents are considered “mandated reporters.” That means any resident with a reasonable suspicion of child abuse or neglect taking place must report it.

The Garden State reflects a nationwide trend of children of color being overrepresented in child welfare systems.

About 70% of calls to New Jersey’s child abuse hotline are concerns about child neglect, according to Theresa McCutcheon, executive director of the Institute for Families at the Rutgers University School of Social Work. Only 4% of the calls reporting neglect were substantiated. Many of the calls “are actually concerns related to poverty,” she said.

“They’re concerned about whether that child has food to eat. They’re concerned about whether that child has adequate supervision. They’re concerned about where that child is living, housing stability,” McCutcheon said.

When to report neglect and when to seek help for a family

The state is working on how to better differentiate between poverty and neglect and is working with partner agencies on how to respond to situations appropriately.

“Poverty is lack of material needs, not necessarily willful withholding of them,” said Jason Butkowski, communications director for the state Department of Children and Families.

McCutcheon said if people can set aside their own biases and “really question — what is it that I am concerned about for this child and for this family — we can see a different experience for those families and dramatically change the number of calls.”

Training, education and guidance on decision making could make a difference in “not just those number of reports, but also those number of families and families of color who are involved in child welfare and never have to move into an involvement with the system,” she said.

The New Jersey Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect has been leading an effort to provide that education and guidance around mandated reporting through its Subcommittee on Race, Poverty and Neglect. The state has also released a tool called a “decision tree,” which helps people who have a concern about potential child abuse and neglect.

“That decision-making tool walks through a series of questions that will help better discern not just what could be poverty or neglect but when there’s a safety issue or a concern about a child that does meet the level of a call to the hotline,” McCutcheon said.

State officials are also working on the issue, while staying within the guidelines of the federal government.

“The fact that there are rules around how you can use federal funds is not new,” DCF’s Butkowski said. “Anytime a new administration comes in, they’re going to have their own priorities and their own perspectives.”

New Jersey receives about $800 million from the federal government for child welfare, according to Butkowski. With the Trump administration using all the leverage it has to undo diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the public and private sector, state officials have become more focused on community-based solutions that can be applied to the broader population.

“If everyone can benefit from it, then we’re more likely to be able to move forward with it,” he said. “But if it’s something that is tailored to a specific population, a specific audience, then it becomes a little more challenging.”