New Jersey program
A county case manager for your child
A county Special Child Health Services case manager helps families find support for a child's health needs.
What it is
A county Special Child Health Services case manager helps families find support for a child's health needs.
A county case manager can help connect different services around your child. Every New Jersey county has a unit. This is a separate service from the program that pays for particular medical items.
Eligibility rules
- New Jersey children from birth through age 21 can use the service.
- There is no income requirement. Every county has a Case Management Unit.
What you get
- A free county case manager for your child.
- Help connecting with services and the separate financial-assistance route.
What the help covers
- The county unit can help with referrals, including a review for separate state financial assistance.
If you decide to apply
- You can ask your oncology social worker for a referral to the county Special Child Health Services unit.
- You can use the state contact line to find your county unit if you want to contact it yourself.
Special Child Health Services: 609-777-7778 · Official page ↗
After you ask
- The oncology social worker can refer your family directly.
Good to know
Free case management does not establish eligibility for the separate financial-assistance program.
Other details
- The case-management service and financial assistance have different eligibility rules.
Official sources
“Would a county case manager add useful support alongside the hospital team? What would they handle, and could you refer us if it would help?”
Why I’m asking: I would like help finding the right services without having to coordinate every contact alone.
More background and detailed requirements
Additional program information and published rules
Who does what
The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.
You
Make the call or ask for the referral.
Your social worker
The oncology social worker can refer you directly.
The care team
Records and letters when the application asks for them.
- Who decides
- The county Case Management Unit.
- Ask your social worker
- “Can you refer us to our county Special Child Health Services case manager?”
How to apply
First step: Call 609-777-7778 for your county unit, or ask the oncology social worker to refer you.
- Call 609-777-7778 for your county unit, or ask the oncology social worker to refer you.
- Ask what the county unit can reach that the hospital cannot.
Official application / program page ↗
Where it starts: Call the state line on 609-777-7778 for your county unit.
What to gather
The diagnosis letter, the child’s insurance card, and the last two pay stubs cover most applications. The official page lists the rest.
How long: unknown: no referral timeline was published.
What a yes looks like
A named case manager in your county who calls you back.
What a no looks like, and the next move
There is no income test, so a refusal is unusual. Ask the state line to place you.
Watch out
- The free case management and the separate financial-assistance programme are different things with different rules.
The numbers and the rules
The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.
What it is worth
A free county case manager for a child with special health needs, birth through 21, at any income.
- $0 — Family fee for case management
- $21 — Upper age for case management
Covers: Case management · Resource and referral · A route into the separate financial-assistance programme
What it costs the family: Nothing.
The eligibility facts, as published
- Age
- birth through 21
- Age max exclusive
- 22
- Income
- no income requirement
- Residency
- New Jersey; every county has a unit
The trap: Case management is free and open to everyone. The separate financial-assistance programme it can refer to is a different thing with its own income test; do not assume one means the other.
Where I read this
- Family Centered Care Services / Special Child Health Services — New Jersey Department of Health, read September 10, 2026
- Special Child Health Services case management for parents — New Jersey Department of Health, read September 10, 2026
- Special Child Health Services county case-management contacts — New Jersey Department of Health, read September 10, 2026