The updated JJ story lists 5 kids belonging to this woman.

Quote:

I'm not sure it's so great the child was returned to that foster home, given the carelessness the foster parents displayed in allowin a four year old to wander off for several hours unnoticed. Thankfully he's been moved to another home. Let's hope DYFS stops using the first family.

Sounds like the case worker really dropped the ball in not keeping the information system up-to-date. No doubt the furloughs aren't helping the situation any.

What a scary situation that must have been for the child. (I can't even watch that stop smoking commercial with the kid who loses his mother at the train station -- it literally makes me cry each time I see the look of terror on his face.)

'TROUBLING' DELAY
Cops stymied by DYFS on kid's foster home

Tuesday, May 26, 2009
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

After Jersey City police found 4-year-old Felix Rivera wandering the streets of the Heights at around 11 p.m. on May 18, it took the state Division of Youth and Family Services several hours to figure out the foster home where Felix was supposed to be staying, according to police reports.

"I'm speechless," said Mary Coogan, assistant director of the Association for Children of New Jersey. "It is very troubling that the people at central screening could not respond adequately to return this child." Police called DYFS at 12:01 a.m. May 19 after learning the boy had been taken from his mother and placed in a foster home, reports said.

The DYFS call taker said the information was not available because the case agent worker had not updated Felix's file, reports said.

The police stressed the "severity" of the case and the fact that the foster home was likely unaware that the boy was gone, but the officer was again told he would have to wait until 7 or 8 a.m. when the case agent came to work to find out the foster home, reports said.

But the call taker said a local case worker would be sent to meet the boy right away and she would call back to provide the case worker's name, reports said.

"I then asked if they could send a local police car to the agent's residence due to the fact that the agent would not respond to numerous phone calls," the officer reported. "I was told that they do not have the agent's personal information available to them or us at this time," reports said.

By 12:55 a.m. the officer hadn't heard from DYFS, so he called again and asked for a supervisor, reports said. At 1 a.m. the supervisor advised the officer to wait for the day shift to handle the issue, reports said. The cop went to the boy's mother's home to see if she knew where Felix had been placed but she did not, reports said.

Finally, at 2:20 a.m. DYFS located the information and gave police the foster home's Graham Street address, reports said.

Police found the building's front door wide open and the occupants were unaware the boy was gone, reports said. Felix was released back to the foster home after he was checked out at Christ Hospital, but his mother said he has since been moved to another home by DYFS.

"It's wonderful to know the police pursued it as much as they did to make sure the child was returned to the foster home," Coogan said.

Due to the state employee furlough on Friday, DYFS could not be reached to comment on the delay in determining where Felix was placed.