Christie swears-in new child welfare chief

TRENTON - New Jersey's child welfare agency has a new leader.

Gov. Christie swore in Allison Blake on Friday as commissioner of the Children and Families Department. She took the oath in front of her family and friends, many of whom worked as caseworkers with her years ago.

Blake was director of the Institute for Families at the Rutgers School of Social Work and spent 18 years at the Division of Youth and Family Services, where she got her start as a caseworker.

"I will do my very best to ensure the safety of the children and families of this state," Blake, 47, of Raritan Township, said after being sworn in in the governor's outer office.

Christie nominated Blake after Janet Rosenzweig withdrew her name from consideration. Rosenzweig had been criticized for her work with the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality.

Blake takes over a department that has been overseen by a federal monitor since 2006.

The agency has undergone changes as a result of a settlement with an advocacy group that claimed the state was not properly protecting children under its care.

The group Children's Rights first sued in 1999, and a settlement was reached. But the system failed to improve and the group went back to court, resulting in a federal monitor being appointed.

The lawsuit followed a series of cases in which children had slipped through the cracks.

In one, a boy in 2003 was found dead in a Newark basement after the state had investigated abuse complaints involving him but closed the file 11 months before his death. The boy's brothers were found sick and emaciated in a room adjacent to where the body was found.

Later that year, four boys in Collingswood were found starving because their adoptive mother withheld food.

In June, the monitor released a report saying the state had made strides in caring for 9,000 foster children, but too often did not provide such basic services as weekly visits with parents or safety assessments before closing their cases.

On Friday, Blake said the department has been increasing training for staff to help them better implement family meetings into their case management.

The report lauded the state for maintaining manageable caseloads, improving foster children's access to health care, and limiting further abuse and neglect after children enter the system.