New Jersey has hired a lawyer to try to get New Jersey's child welfare system out from under the federal oversight it's had for 12 years.
Children and Families Department spokesman Ernest Landante tells NJ.com the state has hired Grand Rapids, Michigan-based lawyer John Bursch to try to shift the agency to being "self-monitoring, self-correcting."
The oversight has been in place since the state settled a lawsuit with a children's welfare advocacy group after a string of tragedies involving children under the state's watch.
The monitor overseeing the system has reported that New Jersey has made major progress but still has a ways to go to reduce caseloads for workers and to find new families more quickly for children in foster care.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
