June 12, 2006 —The State of New Jersey has until today to reach an agreement with the national child advocacy group that sued it to reform the child welfare system. WNYC's Bob Hennely has more.

At stake for New Jersey is avoiding being held in contempt by a Federal judge for not keeping promises it made in a 2OO4 consent decree to reform it's beleagured child welfare agency.

The state entered the landmark agreement with Children's Rights in 2OO4 after several high profile cases in which children on DYFS's radar were abused or murdered.

A few months ago the independent expert panel, charged with reviewing the state's progress, found case loads remained high and a shortage of foster familes persisted. In addition the state was not getting the children in the dyfs system the neccessary medical check-ups as required.

The state has committed to spending $32O million to reform DYFS but rapid agency turnover has taken a toll. A third of the state's case workers have less than a year experience on the job.