MEDIA, PA (KYW Newsradio) — Pennsylvania state Sen. Tim Kearney is used to fielding calls from constituents, but one in 2019 was different than most.
“A distraught mother called my office as she and her son were going through a nightmare. Hospital staff and social workers had substantiated signs of sexual abuse by the boys father,” he said.
Kearney said it was made worse when the case was taken to the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services. There, he said the child was forced to testify and be cross-examined in court by his father, who chose to act as his own attorney, and without a supportive adult in the room.
According to data from DHS, its bureau of hearings and appeals heard over 700 child abuse cases last year. In most of them, Kearney said children had to be face-to-face with their accused abusers. That’s not protocol in criminal cases, but it is in front of DHS.
The revelation prompted Kearney to begin work on Act 23, a new law just passed that allows children to have more protections in DHS hearings from their accused abusers.
“No child should ever have to face their abuser and be questioned in such a way,” Kearney said at an event in Media on Thursday celebrating the law’s passage. “The idea was to give the same protections that they have in civil and criminal court, either by testifying remotely, testifying on tape, just not being in the same room at the same time.”
Act 23 passed unanimously through the state senate and Kearney expects it to take immediate effect.
“While this may require the department to make some adjustments in their facilities across the state and to update their hearing procedures, the impact is profound,” he said.