Normal is what got us in this difficult situation | Opinion

In response, we can commit to providing families with the resources to help secure them during the epidemic but also the resources that will create family success and wellbeing in the future. It is long past time for our government to reduce its reliance on the century-old model of primarily treating distress and to redirect resources to address the underlying adverse conditions that are the catalysts of distress.

Can we afford to provide all families with the resources that many of us have taken for granted — adequate food, safe and stable housing, quality education and health care, employment opportunity and financial security? The social and economic inequities unveiled this year pose the more compelling question: Can we afford not to guarantee those basic supports to all families?

There is ample evidence that government spending on the adverse impacts of deprivation, distress and dysfunction is ineffective and expensive, limiting opportunity and promoting long term dependency. Attacking the causes of distress is financially efficient and improves outcomes. Across New Jersey today, many local organizations – both public and private – are offering services to combat family distress and cultivate stability in communities that have been marginalized for decades.

In 2019, our Family Success Institute published a comprehensive analysis of the New Jersey FY 2018 budget. This study identifies nearly $7 billion of spending targeted to New Jerseyans in distress. Of this total, about 90% is spent on services for people in crisis or distress, and only 10% is spent on preventive and supportive services that enable children and families to thrive. The study concludes that “we are spending an inordinate amount of money on picking up the pieces of shattered lives… in distress when there are clear opportunities to lessen the distress by preventing and intervening earlier with best practice approaches that are proven to work.” It is time to embrace prevention and provide all families the threshold level of support that so many other countries guarantee their citizens.

Throughout New Jersey seeds of change are already taking root. Federally funded Promise Neighborhood programs in Newark and Camden offer comprehensive supports to families from health care to counseling to daycare to education to nutrition to employment. The Monmouth County ACTS initiative is a cutting-edge public/private collaboration of county-based services offering individuals and families holistic resources and support. Local Family Success initiatives are progressing in Camden, Union, Passaic and Middlesex counties and nearly 60 Family Success Centers in communities across the state provide an array of services to support families and avoid a crisis.

Two years ago, The Family Success Institute organized The Learning Community, a collective of parent advocates, community-based and local government agencies that offer strengths-based services. The Learning Community and Family Success Institute are promoting a statewide Bill of Rights for Children, Youth and Families that will codify the following pillars of family success as rights for all families, not privileges enjoyed by some:

• Strong family relationships and community connections
• Personal safety, equal opportunity and financial security
• High-quality learning and education, and
• Good health and well-being.

This Bill of Rights for Children, Youth and Families is included in family success legislation being introduced this year.

The time for transformation is now. The pressure for change will diminish as we gain control over the pandemic and lower the volume of divisive rhetoric. Transformational change relies on the strength of our convictions, the volume of our voices and our willingness to collaborate.

New Jersey can be the leader in combatting social and economic inequities revealed so glaringly this year. For those who yearn for a return to normalcy, we offer the guidance of Thomas Owens, Learning Community member and leader of the Mentor Newark movement, “We cannot go back to normal since normal is what got us here.”

Tim Carden is executive director of the Family Success Institute. He also served as cabinet secretary and as commissioner of Human Services under Gov. Brendan Byrne. A former congressional candidate and board member of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, he is a recognized expert in the field of public/private finance

Tom Blatner is co-founder and board president of the Family Success Institute. He is also the president of JANUS Solutions, a human services consulting firm and a former New Jersey child welfare director.

Source: https://www.nj.com/opinion/2020/12/normal-is-what-got-us-here-opinion.html