Title
Authorizing the Committee of the Whole to hold public hearings on the Community Umbrella Agency (CUA) system and School District of Philadelphia hiring and screening practices to help uncover gaps in child safety.
Body
WHEREAS, The City contracts with ten Community Umbrella Agencies to provide case management for children and families in the child welfare system, and the performance of those agencies is reviewed annually through the CUA Scorecard; and
WHEREAS, The School District of Philadelphia employs thousands of adults who work with children, and the adequacy of its hiring process, criminal background checks, child abuse clearances, and reporting obligations is a matter of urgent public concern considering recent child endangerment cases; and
WHEREAS, The Council has a duty to oversee the systems the City funds and entrusts with the safety of Philadelphia's children, and to hold those systems accountable when they fail; and
WHEREAS, Malayshia Alford, a 10-year-old student at Robert E. Lamberton Public School, was reported missing on October 26, 2026, and her body was later recovered in Lindenwold, New Jersey; and
WHEREAS, The person charged with her murder and endangerment was her foster mother, who was also a fifth-grade teacher with the School District of Philadelphia; and
WHEREAS, Malayshia was in the custody of the Department of Human Services (DHS), receiving foster care services through Pennsylvania Mentor and case management services through Catholic Community Services, Community Umbrella Agency 4; and
WHEREAS, An attorney representing Malayshia's family has stated she was placed in her final home in 2025, but that home was previously deemed unfit for foster care in 2021 after another foster child was removed due to alleged abuse and severe malnutrition; and
WHEREAS, Questions have been raised about whether required child abuse clearances, ChildLine checks, and background checks were obtained and reviewed before that placement, and whether caseworkers conducted thorough home visits and safety assessments; and
WHEREAS, The public has a right to understand how the child welfare system works and to know that when they drop their children off at school or entrust them to a foster home, they are leaving them in good hands; and
WHEREAS, The Council finds that these matters fall within the City's responsibility for the health, safety, and welfare of children in its care and in its public schools; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That the Committee of the Whole is hereby authorized to hold public hearings to examine the CUA system and to investigate the hiring process for teachers and other employees of the School District of Philadelphia in light of recent child endangerment cases.
End