If families in crisis fail in that role, it is in the public interest to save those children, the panel said.
Many abused children end up committing crimes.
Dave Paulk of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey estimates 53 percent will be arrested as juveniles. Sexually abused children are 28 times more likely to be arrested for prostitution. The annual financial cost to taxpayers for treatment, social services, education and incarceration runs into the billions of dollars nationally. Child advocates say state officials must keep increasing funding to the Division of Youth and Family Services, as they have in the last two budgets. Children's Rights, a national advocacy group that is suing the state, contends DYFS still doesn't have funding equivalent to its 1992 budget.