PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Local child welfare advocates say there is an urgent issue with the system and it is continuously getting worse. They testified to state Democratic lawmakers at a policy hearing Thursday that there are unsafe conditions for children in city facilities.
The hearing was prompted by a lawsuit the city filed against the state for reports of overcrowded and dangerous conditions at the Juvenile Justice Services Center in West Philadelphia. Advocates also turned their attention to reports of children sleeping on the floor in the Philadelphia Department of Human Services building in Center City.
They blame the conditions on staffing shortages, a lack of mental health resources, high turnover rates, a lack of transportation and the closures of local facilities — such as Glen Mills Schools, which closed in 2019 due to allegations of abuse. As a result, more vulnerable and at-risk children are left with fewer places to go.
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“Allowing children as young as toddlers to sleep on air mattresses and folding cots in a child care room for up to months at a time is just unacceptable,” said state Sen. Art Haywood, citing a report from The Philadelphia Inquirer. “The conference room in the Center City office of the city DHS is not designed for overnight stays.”
Melissa Harvey, vice president of community-based programs for Gemma Services, which supports at-risk youth, said there is a specific shortage of behavioral health resources to support children with complex needs, limiting the availability of foster placements.
“These are youth who have had physical aggression, property destruction, weapons-related violence,” she said. “Our resource parents have understandably become less open to those types of youth with violent behaviors, youth who have a history of arrests, and again, history of property destruction.
“Their concerns are exacerbated more so by the additional stresses of increased violence in the city as they are not equipped or trained to manage that level of intensity.”
Frank Cervone, executive director of the Support Center for Child Advocates, said the shortage of emergency placements is happening across the country, paired also with a lack of congregate care.
“There are countless stories of children sleeping in the hallways of public child welfare agencies while waiting for a bed to be identified for them,” he said. “The gaps in service and staffing are everywhere — staff who mean well but are not up to the task of caring in a challenging environment.”
In written testimony, DHS Commissioner Kimberly Ali said they are looking into solutions that will decrease use of the child care room, like increasing pay for emergency foster care parents and collaborating with the behavioral health system.