New Jersey also has the third-lowest child mortality rate in the country, one that has been stable for years, according to a 2022 federal report.
With fewer foster care cases, child welfare workers can devote more time to those cases where real danger may be present, Carre-Lee said.
Philadelphia, by comparison, “still faces the risk of having overwhelmed itself,” said Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform. Wexler just published a Rate of Removal Index, comparing the nation’s big cities, and determined that Philadelphia still has the highest rate of removal in the country, and the second-highest when poverty is factored in, trailing only Phoenix. Only 10% of children in foster care were removed from their homes for physical abuse, according to a 2023 report by Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children.