Modeling Child Abuse to Evaluate Locations of the Department of Youth and Family Services

This project was conducted to determine if Department of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) offices are in suitable locations that are capable of satisfying the needs of New Jersey's at-risk children. The two main components of the project are a model of New Jersey's high-risk child abuse areas and the locations of DYFS offices. The objective was to determine if location is one of the factors for the system failure and, if so, to make recommendations for further research into relocating offices to high-risk areas.

The results map demonstrates that DYFS can eliminate location as a major contributing factor in a large northern segment of New Jersey. In central and southern New Jersey, the DYFS offices are more sparsely located, creating underserved areas within the system.

The department adequately protects a large percentage of New Jersey's children, but it is also apparent that DYFS must address the relatively large portion of high-risk areas not within the effective range of DYFS. Further research would determine the best course of action, which might involve establishing new locations or relocating existing offices based on more comprehensive factors.