NEW YORK, NY February 27, 2007 —New Jersey is finally doing what's needed to fix its long-troubled child welfare system. That's the conclusion of a federal monitor assigned to track the system's progress.

The Center for the Study of Social Policy is a Washington-based nonprofit. In its report, the group found that the state had accomplished just about everything it said it would between July and December of last year. In several areas, the state actually exceeded its goals.

The state's child welfare system has been under federal monitors since 2003, when New Jersey settled a lawsuit which claimed the system was placing children in peril. A previous federal monitor's report found major problems with the pace of reform.