When New Jersey was awarded $641 million in the massive opioid settlement against Johnson & Johnson and three other large pharmaceutical distributors, the state committed to using those funds to reduce the effects of the opioid epidemic on those impacted the most.
A new pilot program, the Child Trauma Response Initiative will use $2 million of the settlement funds to train police officers responding to opioid-related incidents to identify children and families who have experienced trauma because of a family member’s opioid addiction. Those officers will connect the children and families to services. The program will be run in part by New Jersey’s Department of Children and Families.
Department of Children and Families Commissioner Christine Norbut Beyer discusses the pilot program.
