Legendary advocate for New Jerseys children retires

She graduated with an English degree from New York University expecting to teach, but instead answered an ad for a social worker trainee position with New Jerseys child welfare system.

Over the next half-century, Cecilia Zalkind evolved into one of the states most respected champions for impoverished families, abused kids and other marginalized people in state history. She retires this month from Advocates for Children of New Jersey, the Newark-based nonprofit after nearly 40 years, including 21 as its leader.

Most New Jerseyans wouldnt know Zalkinds name, or Ceil as she is called by everyone whos met her at least once.

But her peers say her work in the halls of the Statehouse and before the states highest court has shaped laws and policies that touch the lives of countless families each year. They include 50,000 3- and 4-year-olds from lower-income school districts in the state who attend preschool taught by college-educated teachers, the hundreds of thousands of students who have access to free breakfast at school, and the thousands of parents who can afford to work because state leaders agreed to expand a subsidized child care program.

Ceil Zalkind is a legend in New Jersey as an advocate for children. I knew her name before I met her, said Christine Norbut Beyer, who as commissioner for the Department of Children and Families, oversees child protection, childrens mental health and child care programs.

For decades, ACNJ has served as a check on the child welfare and juvenile justice systems to expose when these bureaucracies have failed in their mission to help kids. It was uncomfortable to be on the other end of one of ACNJ scathing reports children languishing in foster care, but it was also helpful, said Charlie Venti, director of the child protection system from 1998 to 2002, for what was then known as the Division of Youth and Family Services. Get politics news like this right to your inbox with the N.J. Politics newsletter. Add your email below and hit “subscribe”
      

I always appreciated ACNJ when I was the DYFS director and deputy director because they were very measured in their criticism and examination of the issues, said Venti, chairman of the ACNJ board and a member for 20 years. I was very interested in trying to get community support for child welfare, but that was a tough sell when then-Gov. Christie Whitman was touting herself as a tax-cutter, he said. Pressure had to come from the Legislature or from the outside.

Zalkind knows how to apply pressure by using data and peoples testimonials and delivering her message with a quiet earnestness minus the snark and hyperbole that too often clutters political discourse, said Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, who chairs the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee.

Shes polite but firm, but no one ever mistook her politeness and maturity as a weakness. It was among her strengths, Vitale said.

She was part of the expansion of NJ FamilyCare, (the states Medicaid program), the child protection issues, access to mental health services anything related to the welfare of children, she was involved in. I would call her on advice on issues we were working on – shes so knowledgeable, he said. And shes a nice person, on top of that.

Zalkind, a 75-year-old grandmother from Montclair, said shes been described as tenacious, which she interprets as a polite way of saying a persistent pain in the ass. She also believes that its her optimism and patience in the face of governments grindingly slow pace that are key to her success.

Ask her to describe her proudest achievement and Zalkind will say without hesitation it was the creation of preschool for the thousands of 3- and 4-year-olds in the states 31 lowest-income school districts. Today it is a $990 million endeavor that is still incomplete but is reaching many more youngsters.

Its taken 24 years to get this far.

Ordered by the state Supreme Court 1998 and 2000, the program was essentially designed by legal advocates, educators and child care professionals convened by ACNJ, who recommended teachers hold college degrees and classrooms not exceed 15 students.

But the Education Law Center, which led the litigation, and ACNJ always wanted the pre-k to reach more kids. They worked with Govs. McGreevey, Corzine and Christie, who each allocated dribs and drabs of money in difficult economic times, she said. It took off under Gov. Phil Murphy, who has added funding every year since he took office in 2018, she said.

Ive always been a believer in a good first step. We are not all or nothing. You compromise and keep the door open, Zalkind said.

Sure, there have been times when she wanted to shake lawmakers and educators who didnt get how important preschool is to setting up children for success throughout their lives, especially children of color. Some at the time called preschool mere baby-sitting. She recalled one legislator 15 years ago who thanked Zalkind and her ACNJ colleagues for doing Gods work, but there was just no way the state could afford preschool.

She recalled just smiling and again explaining the data again on how preschool leads to academic success.

David Sciarra, executive director of the Education Law Center, the leader in the fight to provide children with an equitable and effective education no matter where they live, said Zalkinds work was instrumental in securing the New Jersey Supreme Courts order requiring universal preschool for youngsters in urban communities across the state.

More importantly, she worked tirelessly to build a broad-based coalition to press for effective program implementation, Sciarra said. Through Ceils aggressive advocacy, thousands of three- and four-year olds now benefit from access to an early education program that prepares them for success in school and in life.

Cecilia Zalkind, left, and Mary Coogan, seen in this 2017 file photo taken at a political forum they hosted, are the president and vice president of Advocates for Children of New Jersey, a prominent family advocacy nonprofit organization. Coogan will take over when Zalkind retires at the end of 2022.

Zalkind said her passion in working with disadvantaged families probably grew unconsciously from her own parents difficult childhoods. Her mother was one of 10 children who was raised by various relatives after both her parents died by the time she was 13. Her fathers father abandoned the family after his mother developed tuberculosis and required hospital care. He and his brother went to live in a group home in Bergen County.

Yet they managed to create a great family for brother and me, said Zalkind, a Clifton native.

Led by Ciro Scalera, who hired Zalkind in 1984, ACNJ built its reputation on projects that included analyzing and promoting the data contained in the national Annie E. Casey Kids COUNT reports, which revealed how New Jerseys families were struggling and why.

The Newark-based nonprofit also led the call for improvements to the states woefully underfunded and poorly run child welfare system years before a 1999 class-action lawsuit filed by Childrens Rights, Inc., a national nonprofit, would lead to a settlement in 2003 and billions of dollars of court-monitored investments and improvements.

As a DYFS caseworker for eight years, Zalkind witnessed in horror how long foster children (about 12,000 at the time compared to about 3,000 today) waited to be reunited with their families or be adopted. Frustrated, she got a law degree at Rutgers-Newark to better understand the family court system and why children languished so long.

Zalkind has said she was initially wary of the lawsuit because she was concerned it was a scorched-earth approach that may take attention away from other ongoing improvements. Looking back, however, there is no question that without the lawsuit, the children welfare system renamed Division of Child Protection and Permanency would never have secured the money and leadership it has today.

In the end, that and trong leadership is what made the difference, she said. New Jersey is expected to exit court supervision after 20 years in mid-2023.

The practice of child welfare work nationally and in New Jersey has changed dramatically, accelerated in recent years by the racial reckoning following the death George Floyd. Theres a stronger focus on helping families the state has historically investigated and separated for neglect by addressing their physical needs driven by poverty. There are three times more Black children are than white children in foster care, even though they make up only 13% of the population. The poverty rate for Black people in New Jersey is 2-1/2-times higher than white people.

Through very painful self-reflection, Zalkind has acknowledged that ACNJs focus for a long time was on adopting children from foster care. What we advocated for was in the context of how the system was defined, which was not geared enough toward strengthening and reunifying families separated by the system, she said.

Zalkind said shes pleased the systemic racism in child welfare work is a topic that her second-in-command and soon to be replacement, Mary Coogan, has helped ACNJ explore with the state. The work going on has been very exciting, she said.

Part of that shift from dismantling families to helping them is embodied in the enactment of a law Murphy signed last year that would guarantee up to three home visits to moms and their newborns on a voluntary basis. The universal home visitation program is also aimed at reducing infant and maternal mortality rates which are particularly high among Black people. The death rate for Black women in New Jersey is among the nations highest.

When Zalkind met with Norbut Beyer to advocate for universal home visits, the commissioner said she was pleased to tell her she was working toward making New Jersey one of the first states to adopt a statewide program. (Oregon was the first.)

Norbut Beyer said most of her interaction with Zalkind and ACNJ in her five-year tenure has been more collaborative than adversarial, as their goals are often aligned. We dont always agree on how to get there, but having the same goals and having the ability and willingness to listen to your partners and critics is ultimately what makes for better systems for kids and families, she said.

ACNJs emphasis on improving infant and maternal health has ACNJ has changed the way it does its job. Four years ago, Zalkind said ACNJ recruited Jaye Wilson, founder of Melinated Moms, to be their thought leader. Wilson and her members have met with legislators and make the case for more investments in womens and childrens health initiatives. Wilson brought her members, who represent women from a broad spectrum of economic backgrounds and professional experiences.

The parents really ran the meetings, Zalkind said. Their stories and their struggle finding child care or prenatal care, was very powerful. It made a connection with legislators we never could.

Wilson said her group has helped ACNJ by enlisting more parents to deliver the message of what families need. The community will always have the solution, she said.

And with ACNJs help, theyd secured a grant to continue their work, Wilson said. Its been awesome to have that partnership and for an organization to take us seriously. We are still really small but we have exponentially grown mainly because of ACNJ.

Zalkind will remain as a consultant to ACNJ on early childhood education issues, Venti said. We dont want to lose a step there, he said.

But Coogan, an attorney steeped in child welfare and other legal issues, is prepared to take the organization into new directions, such as the need for more mental health services for children. The resources are not available, especially for Black and brown kids, he said.

They also want to get more involved with family issues in south Jersey, he added.

But Zalkinds departure will be felt.

Ceil has been the face of ACNJ, Venti said. We have to make sure we as an organization continue and deepened our presence…Without Ceil, its a challenge.

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Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio.