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De Miller - is President and General Counsel
of Legal Services of New Jersey. He also served as Executive
Director of Middlesex County Legal Services Corporation
and General Counsel of the State Office of Legal Services.
He is a member of numerous advisory committees of the national
Legal Services Corporation and is a founding board member
of The Project for the Future of Equal Justice. He is co-author
of You and the Law in New Jersey: A Resource Guide, published
by Rutgers University Press.
De sees the fundamental issue that families struggle with
is poverty. Poverty transcend all Departments, and NJ needs
to coordinate supportive services that include: housing
assistance, education & training, work opportunities,
case management, transportation, childcare, and adequate
financial assistance at all levels.
Cecilia Zalkind - is Executive Director of
the Association for Children of New Jersey (ACNJ), a statewide
child advocacy organization. ACNJ advocates on a wide variety
of issues concerning children and families, including child
welfare, early care and education, health, juvenile justice
and family support. She is the author of numerous reports
on children's issues, including Splintered Lives, dealing
with decision-making for children in foster care, and You
Have the Right!, a handbook on the legal rights of children
in New Jersey. Ms. Zalkind is also an adjunct professor
of family law at Seton Hall Law School. Cecilia indicates
that the following points are critical: 1. NJ needs a preventative
agenda to help families before problems grow, 2. The current
structure of the Department of Human Services needs examination,
3. The mission of the Division of Youth and Family Services
needs to be re-cast.
Kevin Ryan - is Chief of Staff at the NJ
Department of Human Services. Prior to his appointment in
January, 2002, he was General Counsel and Associate Executive
Director of Covenant House New Jersey, a non-profit corporation
that serves homeless and foster youth in Newark and Atlantic
City. During his tenure at Covenant House, he developed
and implemented Youth Advocacy Center legal services programs
for youth; wrote the New Jersey Homeless Youth Act; drafted
protections for runaway children in the federal juvenile
justice bill; and drafted the first health insurance expansion
law for children who are aging out of foster care, teenagers,
which became part of the 2000 New Jersey Family Cares Act.
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