Title
Authorizing the Committee on Children and Youth to hold hearings concerning recommendations to establish an independent Youth Services Ombudsperson office to receive, investigate, and report on concerns from youth and families about safety or services for young people in congregate care, secure or other forms of detention, or any institutional facility.
Body
WHEREAS, Each year, thousands of Philadelphia children are mandated to live in state-operated or private residential placements, costing annually close to $175 million in public funding. Youth enter these residential placements through the child welfare or juvenile justice systems, or for psychiatric treatment needs; and
WHEREAS, The City of Philadelphia has made significant strides in strengthening its oversight and reducing its use of congregate and institutional facilities for children in recent years, with residential placement rates dropping 71% since 2015, and has committed to achieve further reductions and to improve the quality and safety of such residential placements across all three systems; and
WHEREAS, Youth placed in residential settings are more likely to have experienced previous trauma such as physical, sexual, or emotional abuse; domestic or community violence; traumatic loss; or having an impaired caregiver. Additionally, youth of color, LGBTQ and gender expansive youth, and youth in foster care are disproportionately committed to residential institutions when compared to their peers, with Black and Latinx children being twice as likely as White children to be placed in these institutions; and
WHEREAS, While residential placement should provide youth with a safe and caring environment in which to heal and grow, far too often placements have been dangerous and harmful for the youth they serve. Violent assaults, sexual victimization, verbal abuse and humiliation, and maltreatment at the hands of staff and other youth has been documented extensively in studies, including the "Broken...
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