JOINT STATE GOVERNMENT COMMISSION

1 JOINT STATE . GOVERNMENT COMMISSION . General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania CHILD PROTECTION IN PENNSYLVANIA: PROPOSED RECOMMENDATIONS. REPORT OF THE TASK FORCE ON. CHILD PROTECTION. November 2012. JOINT STATE GOVERNMENT COMMISSION . Serving the Pennsylvania General Assembly Since 1937. This report may be downloaded from either of the following websites: Because this report is quite lengthy, limited printing will be done. A short summary will be provided upon request and may also be found on the foregoing websites.

2 _____. The JOINT STATE GOVERNMENT COMMISSION was created by the act of July 1, 1937. ( , ), as amended, as a continuing agency for the development of facts and recommendations on all phases of GOVERNMENT for the use of the General Assembly. _____. JOINT STATE GOVERNMENT COMMISSION Room 108 Finance Building Harrisburg, PA 17120-0018. Telephone: 717-787-4397. Fax: 717-787-7020. E-mail: Website: Project Staff: Yvonne Llewellyn Hursh, Assistant Counsel Yelena Khanzhina, Public Policy Analyst Stephen F. Rehrer, Counsel Wendy L.

3 Baker, Executive Assistant _____. The release of this report should not be interpreted as an endorsement by the members of the Executive Committee of the JOINT STATE GOVERNMENT COMMISSION of all the findings, recommendations or conclusions contained in this report. _____. JOINT STATE GOVERNMENT COMMISSION . OFFICERS. Representative Florindo J. Fabrizio, Chair Senator John C. Rafferty, Jr., Vice Chair _____. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. Senate Members House Members Joseph B. Scarnati, III Samuel H. Smith President Pro Tempore Speaker Dominic F.

4 Pileggi Michael C. Turzai Majority Leader Majority Leader Jay Costa Frank J. Dermody Minority Leader Minority Leader Patrick M. Browne Stan Saylor Majority Whip Majority Whip Anthony H. Williams Michael K. Hanna Minority Whip Minority Whip Michael L. Waugh Sandra J. Major Chair, Majority Caucus Chair, Majority Caucus Richard A. Kasunic Dan B. Frankel Chair, Minority Caucus Chair, Minority Caucus Member Ex-Officio Representative Florindo J. Fabrizio, COMMISSION Chair _____. Glenn J. Pasewicz, Executive Director Stephen F.

5 Rehrer, Counsel _____. TASK FORCE ON CHILD PROTECTION. The Honorable David W. Heckler District Attorney, Bucks County (Chairman). Dr. Rachel P. Berger, MD, MPH. Child Protection Team, Child Advocacy Center, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Jackie Atherton Bernard, Esq. Chief Deputy District Attorney, Blair County Dr. Cindy W. Christian, MD. Director, Safe Place: The Center for Child Protection and Health, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia;. Medical Director, Department of Human Services, Philadelphia The Honorable Arthur E.

6 Grim Senior Judge, Court of Common Pleas, Berks County Carol Hobbs-Picciotto, MHS. Intake Social Worker, Philadelphia Garrison Ipock, Jr. Executive Director, The Glen Mills Schools Jason P. Kutulakis, Esq. Senior Partner, Abom & Kutulakis, LLP. Delilah Rumburg Executive Director, Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape National Sexual Violence Resource Center William Strickland President and CEO, Manchester Bidwell Corporation The Honorable Gary D. Alexander, Ex Officio Secretary, Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare Designee: The Honorable Beverly D.

7 Mackereth Deputy Secretary, Office of Children, Youth and Families, Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare COMMENTS OF THE TASK FORCE CHAIRMAN. First and most important, measure all of your decisions and suggestions for legislative reform against the questions of whether a change or changes will improve the protection offered to vulnerable and dependent children.. -- Richard J. Gelles, , Dean, School of Social Policy & Practice of the University of Pennsylvania I am privileged to take this opportunity to offer some general thoughts on behalf of myself and the extraordinarily able colleagues who served as members of this task force.

8 First, as you can tell from the quotations set forth in our report, the quality of the scores of persons who addressed our panel during the course of the 11 hearings which we held was such that, had we made no recommendations or proposed no draft legislation whatsoever, we would still have performed a great service for this Commonwealth and its children by gathering the collective wisdom, frustrations and advice of the able and dedicated witnesses who appeared at our hearings. We would earnestly urge that those who wish to take up our recommendations or who wish to evaluate their validity, take time to review the collective testimony of these experts.

9 All of it is available either in written form or as live recordings. Taken together, this body of testimony is both inspiring and highly informative. No one who listens to and considers it can doubt that dramatic change is required in the way our governmental institutions work to protect children in Pennsylvania. Early in our proceedings we heard the words inscribed above from Dr. Richard Gelles, Dean of the School of Social Policy & Practice of the University of Pennsylvania. We have done our best to make them the standard for the way in which we performed our duties.

10 This report contains many, many recommendations some broad and sweeping, others narrow and specific. While the process and its participants, chief among them the chair, may have regularly fallen short of the challenge, we have striven in our deliberations to recommend courses of action and legislative changes which will improve the protection of children in this Commonwealth, first and above all else. I have quoted Dean Gelles' words not only because they clearly STATE our duty to put children first but also because they contain several cautionary notes.