NJ Foster Parent Rights: What the Resource Family Parent Bill of Rights Guarantees

Most people applying to become foster parents in New Jersey focus on what the state requires of them. Fewer know that New Jersey's Resource Family Parent Bill of Rights sets out specific protections — including dignity, case-planning participation, and input to the court — when communication breaks down or decisions are made about a child in your care without your input.

Understanding what you are entitled to before you are in the middle of a difficult situation is far more useful than discovering it afterward.

The Resource Family Parent Bill of Rights

New Jersey's Resource Family Parent Bill of Rights establishes a set of protections for licensed resource family parents. These are not merely informal guidance, but the way a particular right applies and how to raise a concern should be confirmed under current CP&P policy. Key provisions include:

Right to be treated with dignity and respect. You are a professional member of the child welfare team. Dismissiveness, non-responsiveness, or condescension from a caseworker is something you can document and raise through the appropriate supervisory channel.

Right to participate in case planning. You have the right to be included in meetings about the child in your care and to contribute your observations about the child's needs, behaviors, and progress. You are not a passive recipient of decisions made by others — you are a team member whose daily experience with the child is relevant to case planning.

Right to receive information about the child. You have the right to receive information about the child that is relevant to providing care. This includes information about the child's medical history, educational needs, behavioral challenges, and prior placement experiences to the extent that CP&P has this information.

Right to provide input to the court. New Jersey resource parents can provide input to the Family Court through the Resource Family Information Form (CN 10159). This form allows you to share your observations about the child's adjustment, needs, and relationship with your household directly with the court.

Right to notice of hearings. Ask CP&P or the court how notice and participation apply to hearings related to the child in your care.

Right to a fair licensing process. If CP&P takes adverse action against your license, ask for the applicable appeal and hearing process.

The "Reasonable and Prudent Parent" Standard

New Jersey's Normalcy Law (N.J.S.A. 30:4C-26c) establishes the Reasonable and Prudent Parent Standard, which has practical implications for your daily life as a resource family parent.

Under this standard, you have the authority to allow placed children to participate in age-appropriate activities — sports teams, school field trips, overnight visits with friends, extracurricular activities, social media — without obtaining prior caseworker approval for each activity. You assess the safety and maturity of the child, as any reasonable parent would, and make the decision.

This standard was created specifically because the prior requirement to get caseworker approval for every activity was causing placed children to miss normal childhood experiences. You do not need to call your RFSW before allowing a child to go to a birthday party.

The standard does not apply to major decisions — medical treatment, enrollment changes, significant travel — which still require appropriate authorization. But for routine age-appropriate activities, the authority is yours.

What to Do When Rights Are Violated

The most common rights violations reported by NJ resource families involve communication breakdowns: not being informed about court hearings, not being included in case planning meetings, not receiving medical information relevant to care, and going weeks without contact from an RFSW.

When this happens:

1. Document everything. Keep a log of every interaction with CP&P — dates, who you spoke with, what was discussed. If you were not informed of a hearing, note the date you found out and how.

2. Use the Resource Family Information Form (CN 10159) to communicate directly with the court if case planning decisions are being made without your input.

3. Contact Embrella (formerly NJ Foster and Adoptive Family Services). Embrella operates a statewide 1-800 support line and provides advocacy for resource families navigating disputes with CP&P.

4. Escalate within CP&P. Your RFSW has a supervisor. If communication is broken at the caseworker level, the supervisor is the appropriate next contact. Escalation is not adversarial — it is how the system is designed to work when front-line communication fails.

Your Responsibilities in Return

Rights come paired with responsibilities. As a resource family parent in New Jersey, you are required to:

• Support visitation with birth parents. This is a mandatory responsibility. Visitation is essential to the reunification goal, so resource parents should facilitate it as directed.
• Maintain confidentiality. Sharing identifiable information about the child, the biological family, or the case on social media is generally prohibited. Disciplinary consequences depend on applicable policy; confirm the current confidentiality rules with CP&P.
• Report concerns promptly. You have mandatory reporter obligations under New Jersey's child protection statutes.
• Notify CP&P of significant events. Ask your RFSW which hospitalizations, school changes, significant behavioral incidents, and household changes must be reported under current policy.

Knowing your rights as a resource family parent in New Jersey is not about being adversarial with the system. It is about knowing when the system owes you something and how to claim it — professionally and effectively.

The New Jersey Foster Care Licensing Guide includes the Resource Family Information Form process, the Embrella advocacy resources, and a communication log template specifically designed for NJ resource families navigating the common challenge of caseworker unresponsiveness.

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