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PRINTER'S NO. 1861
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No. 1573
Session of
2025
INTRODUCED BY SHUSTERMAN, HOHENSTEIN, HANBIDGE, DOUGHERTY, HILL-
EVANS, KHAN, D. WILLIAMS, SANCHEZ, WARREN, CEPEDA-FREYTIZ AND
MAYES, JUNE 6, 2025
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON CHILDREN AND YOUTH, JUNE 9, 2025
AN ACT
Amending the act of June 13, 1967 (P.L.31, No.21), entitled "An
act to consolidate, editorially revise, and codify the public
welfare laws of the Commonwealth," in children and youth,
further providing for availability of services, providing for
purposes and further providing for statistics and assistance
for research.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 701 of the act of June 13, 1967 (P.L.31,
No.21), known as the Human Services Code, is amended to read:
Section 701. Availability of Services.--(a) The department
shall assure within the Commonwealth the availability and
equitable provision of adequate public child welfare services
for all children who need them regardless of religion, race,
settlement, residence or economic or social status.
(b) At least once every three years, the department shall
conduct an inventory of programs and services to address
delinquency across all counties of this Commonwealth. The
following apply:
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(1) The inventory shall be conducted in coordination with
local judges, county officials and relevant stakeholders across
all counties of this Commonwealth.
(2) The results of the inventory shall be collated and
disseminated publicly.
Section 2. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
Section 701.1. Purposes.--(a) The purposes of this article
are to:
(1) Protect children from abuse and neglect.
(2) Provide for the care, protection, safety and wholesome
mental and physical development of children for whom 42 Pa.C.S.
Ch. 63 (relating to juvenile matters) applies or who are
receiving services in accordance with this article.
(3) Preserve the unity of the family whenever possible or
provide an alternative permanent family when the unity of the
family cannot be maintained.
(4) Consistent with the protection of the public interest,
provide programs of supervision, care and rehabilitation for
children committing delinquent acts. The programs shall provide
balanced attention to:
(i) The protection of the community.
(ii) The imposition of accountability for offenses
committed.
(iii) The development of competencies to enable children to
become responsible and productive members of the community,
including ensuring access to a quality education.
(5) Achieve the purposes in a family environment whenever
possible, separating a child from the child's parents only when
necessary for the child's welfare, safety or health or when
necessary for public safety.
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(b) In accordance with the purposes specified in subsection
(a) and the mandate of 42 Pa.C.S. Ch. 63 that the court, upon
finding a child to be a dependent child, shall enter an order of
disposition that is best suited to the safety, protection and
physical, mental and moral welfare of the child, the department
shall prioritize the following objectives:
(1) To increase the use of nonplacement services designed to
prevent child abuse and neglect and to strengthen families so
that the safety of children is increased and the risk to
children is minimized.
(2) If placement is necessary, to use kinship care as the
first priority and, if kinship care is not available or
appropriate, to use family foster care as an alternative.
(3) To ensure that the use of congregate care living and
institutional placement is short-term and only as long as
necessary to stabilize a child so the child can return to a
family-like setting.
(4) To improve permanency for children to reduce the
duration of out-of-home placement.
(c) In accordance with the purposes specified in subsection
(a) and the mandate under 42 Pa.C.S. Ch. 63 that the court, upon
finding a child to be a delinquent child, shall enter an order
of disposition that is consistent with protection of the public,
the imposition of accountability for offenses committed and the
development of competencies to enable the child to become a
responsible and productive member of the community, the
department shall prioritize the following objectives:
(1) To increase the use of in-home services when consistent
with the protection of the public and the rehabilitation needs
of delinquent children.
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(2) With respect to the placement of delinquent children:
(i) To encourage use of the in-home services when consistent
with the protection of the public and the treatment,
supervision, education and rehabilitation needs of delinquent
children.
(ii) To operate and encourage the development of placement
resources that are consistent with the protection of the public
and the treatment, supervision, education and rehabilitation
needs of delinquent children, and to ensure that these
placements are used only for the duration needed to protect the
public.
(iii) To encourage the use of community-based residential
resources as alternatives to institutional placements when
consistent with the protection of the public and to support the
treatment, supervision, education and rehabilitation needs of
delinquent children.
(iv) To encourage the development of services and
programming to facilitate the successful transition of
delinquent children to their communities from periods of
residential placement.
Section 3. Section 722 of the act is amended to read:
Section 722. Statistics; Assistance for Research.--(a) The
department shall gather, collate, interpret and disseminate
statistics and reports relating to the problem of juvenile
delinquency and to the treatment of juveniles. It shall also
assist counties and local public and private agencies to study
the causes and methods of prevention of juvenile delinquency.
(b) The department shall develop, in collaboration with the
Juvenile Court Judges' Commission and any stakeholders as the
department deems appropriate, a publicly accessible data
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dashboard that includes the following real-time information:
(1) Updates on population in placement, disaggregated by
race, gender, ethnicity, disability status and sending county.
(2) Facility bed capacity.
(3) Facility staffing ratios.
(4) Facility programming offered, including education.
(5) Average length of stay in each facility.
(c) With respect to placement instability statistics:
(1) For those children committed by the court to an
institution, youth development center, camp or other facility
for delinquent children operated under the direction or
supervision of the court or other public authority under 42
Pa.C.S. § 6352(a)(3) (relating to disposition of delinquent
child), the department, in collaboration with the Juvenile Court
Judges' Commission and the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention Committee, shall gather, collate, interpret and
publicly disseminate each year statistics and reports on the
following:
(i) The number of children who are rejected or denied
admission.
(ii) The number of children who are ejected or removed after
admission.
(iii) The average total length of stay in placement for
children who are rejected or denied admission or who are ejected
or removed after admission.
(2) The statistics and reports under clause (1) shall be
used by a multidisciplinary task force to review the challenges
of placement instability and the movements among children
subject to out-of-home placements during the course of
delinquency cases for the purpose of establishing a more
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comprehensive policy.
Section 4. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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