Day of the Child
Date: Aug 5, 2026 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Location: New Jersey Law Center, New Brunswick, and Online
Member Price: $125.00
Non-Member Price: $165.00
Section Price: $0.00
Areas of Law: Child Welfare
Earn up to 6.7 credits! (More Information)
Keynote
Moderator
Presenters
- Hon. Daniel A. D'Alessandro, J.S.C. (Ret.)
- Of Counsel, Tanya Freeman Law, LLC
- Mary E. Coogan, Esq.
- Executive Director, Advocates for Children of New Jersey, Newark
- Emily Douglas PhD
- Professor, Montclair State University
- Neha Gogate, Esq.
- Assistant Deputy Public Defender, Office of the Public Defender, Basking Ridge
- Corissa Kazar
- Director of Family Support, Embrella
- Ebony Lenard
- Director of Scholarship Programs (NJFC), Embrella
- Clinton Page, Esq.
- First Deputy Assistant Commissioner, New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency, Trenton
- Alexis Pollock, Esq.
- Deputy Public Defender, Office of the Public Defender, Ewing
- Svetlana Shpiegel, MSW, PhD
- Professor, Montclair State University
- Suzanne Silverio Kreie, LCSW
- Chair, Staffing and Oversight Review Subcommittee, NJ Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect
- Angie Waters
- Executive Director, Court Appointed Special Advocates of NJ
- Wendy Zeitlin, MSW, PhD
- Assistant Professor, Montclair State University, Montclair State University
Presented in cooperation with the New Jersey State Bar Foundation and Embrella
Children are extremely vulnerable members of society. Every day, countless children in New Jersey are dependent on the legal and child welfare systems. Join us for the second annual program focused on children in New Jersey, which features a presentation of the second annual report of the Staffing and Oversight Review Subcommittee of the Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect, the statutory entity required to review, analyze and make recommendations to the Division of Child Protection & Permanency on child welfare issues. Programming will also highlight resources for aging out foster youth, with discussions on resources for older youth in New Jersey, the resources available for families of older foster youth, and extended foster youth. Learn about new updates in the law related to Social Security benefits for children in out of home placement and benchmark hearings.
This program welcomes practitioners in child welfare, family law, resource parents and advocates. Continuing legal education credits are available as well as resource parent credits.
Program Agenda
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9:00 | Introduction
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9:05 | Keynote Speaker
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9:55 | Resources for Aging Out Foster Youth
Roundtable discussion on resources for older foster youth on wraparound services. How to coordinate with stakeholders including the case worker, law guardian and professionals to ensure services are built into the overall case plan. -
11:15 | New Jersey and the Numbers
Members of the Staffing and Oversight Review Subcommittee of the Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect discuss this year’s second annual report of New Jersey’s child welfare system. Review the state of child welfare relative to parent child visits, kinship care, wellness, and sibling care. Panelists will discuss the priorities going into next year’s report including mental health, education and aging out foster youth. -
12:45 | Lunch
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1:30 | Social Security and the Child Welfare System
P.L. 2025, c. 162 prohibits use of property or benefits belonging to a child for resource care maintenance costs. The newly passed legislation addresses specific issues related to children with Social Security benefits, including but not limited to asset limits for Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries. This presentation will walk through the new law and provide an overview of its provisions and practical implications. -
2:45 | Best Practices for Practitioners in Benchmark Hearings
The Revised Benchmark Hearings Protocol and Checklist provides a roadmap for aging out youth to ensure they have what they need to succeed in life after foster care. The panelists talk about best practices in preparing for these hearings to ensure a successful outcome for older youth in foster care. - 4:00 | Adjourn
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