PENNSYLVANIA CAPITAL-STAR – Pennsylvania’s child welfare system is “exhausted,” and can’t adequately respond to the needs of the children and youth it serves, according to a new report surveying its performance in 2021.
The report by Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, a Harrisburg-based advocacy group, also found racial disparities in the system, concluding that “Black, Hispanic, and children and families of multiple races are over-surveilled, investigated, and represented in all aspects of the system.”
“Children and youth at risk of abuse and neglect deserve a child welfare system equipped to respond to their individual needs and that uses group housing or congregate care placement only as a last resort,” the organization’s president and CEO, Kari King, said in a statement. “And counties must work to diversify their workforce to represent better the communities they serve and reduce bias.”