Tom Blatner This is Me

 View all 15 references Web References

1. 1. Janus Solutions

   www.janussolutions.com/experts - [Cached]

   Published on: 4/23/2008   Last Visited: 4/23/2008

   Tom Blatner - President and CEO

2. 2. Seminar on Human Services - Site Visit Schedules

   www.leadershipnj.org/hs_visits - [Cached]

   Published on: 4/5/2006   Last Visited: 4/15/2006

   Tom Blatner, Former DYFS Director & President, Janus Solutions

3. 3. NorthJersey.com - New Jersey News

   www.bergen.com/page.php?level_ - [Cached]

   Published on: 1/12/2003   Last Visited: 1/13/2003

   "Maybe I'm an eternal optimist. but he does seem really freaked out by it," Blatner said. "Maybe this time things will be different."
   
   Consider the range of problems - from a lack of basic equipment such as computers and cars, to inexperienced staff dealing with families awash in drugs and domestic violence and mired in homelessness, mental illness, and illiteracy. Caseworkers face addicts who hide drugs in babies' diapers and parents who prostitute their children for drug money. Conditions are especially bleak in cities; in Newark, one out of three children lives in poverty and two out of three babies are born to unwed mothers.
   
   ...
   Blatner says the state should change the way it investigates abuse so that a team with representatives from DYFS, law enforcement, and mental health would check out complaints.
   
   ...
   Blatner, a former DYFS director, argues the whole agency has to be revamped if there's going to be significant long-term change. He wants a Cabinet-level appointee to pull together resources from the separate divisions responsible for kids - such as child protection, juvenile justice, mental health, and addiction services.
   
   More money should go into preventing abuse from the start, Blatner said.
   
   He points to successful voluntary home-visiting programs that help mothers bringing infants home from the hospital. "That would offer parents some assistance before something goes wrong," he said. "But if something does go wrong, you'd have someone engaged with the family and we're not just looking back after it happens."