Though Pennsylvania was among the first states to use a differential response approach to investigating child abuse, other states that followed our lead now might have practices worth replicating in the commonwealth.

That was the message Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children President and CEO Joan Benso offered at the May 3 meeting of the state's Task Force on Child Protection.

"Our approach to responding to reports of child abuse and neglect was an innovative approach when it was first implemented in our state and it is something we should refine rather than abandon," Benso told the task force in her testimony. "More and more states are implementing this approach because they recognize it is a better method of working with families to ensure children are safe. But that doesn't mean practice and policy improvements cannot be made to fine tune and improve our system."

Differential response involves using multiple doors or pathways to respond to reports of child abuse and neglect. Pennsylvania uses two doors, known as Child Protective Service (CPS) and General Protective Service (GPS). CPS uses a more urgent timeframe for response, similar to that of a law enforcement investigation, and focuses on whether abuse has occurred and who might have perpetrated the abuse. In GPS, the primary goal is identifying family issues that might be impacting child safety and well-being and providing services to address those issues. Pennsylvania provides 4.5 times more service to children through GPS than CPS.

About 20 states followed Pennsylvania's lead in adopting a differential response approach, and some of those states use three or four "doors" for handling abuse reports.

"There's a common-sense reason for these multiple doors or pathways: Different family situations necessitate different interventions," Benso told the task force. "The child welfare system needs multiple approaches to work with families and a traditional CPS investigation is not always the best choice."

PPC recommended that the task force delve deeper into the lessons learned by other states that use differential response to examine the best combination of policy, practice, workforce development, evaluation and funding required to improve, rather than abandon, Pennsylvania's differential response system.

Here are some of the themes from the presentations and discussion at the May 3 task force meeting:

• Pennsylvania's child protection law has expanded over the years, putting greater demands on child welfare agencies.

• There is a need for better statewide tracking and real-time use of data to guide decision making at the family and systems levels.

• There is a difference of opinion about how perpetrators are defined, with some believing all child maltreatment should be considered "child abuse" regardless of perpetrator, while others express serious concern that such an approach would vastly expand the role of child protection agencies beyond families/caregivers.

• Consideration should be given to amending Pennsylvania's child abuse definition, particularly related to "severe pain" threshold.

The 11-member task force, formed in the wake of the Penn State child sex-abuse scandal, is charged with identifying ways to improve child abuse reporting, strengthen laws relating to child abuse, and train appropriate people in reporting abuse. It is expected to issue a final report with recommendations by Nov. 30.

The task force's next meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 14, in Harrisburg. The agenda for that task force meeting can be found here.

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May is National Foster Care Month, a time for renewed commitment to children in foster care. Child advocates know that children and teens removed from their homes face significant obstacles all year long, not just in the month of May. Too often, these challenges last a lifetime.

That is why Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children is renewing our call for resource families and other advocates to join the Fostering Connections Campaign, an initiative to support the commonwealth’s full implementation of a federal law by the same name. This law includes four provisions that, when implemented together, will support teens and young adults in foster care, while drawing down millions in federal funds and generating savings for Pennsylvania and its counties. Learn more about these provisions on the Porch Light Project website.

Gov. Tom Corbett included Fostering Connections in his initial budget proposal as a way to help more foster youth achieve permanency, provide extended foster care support and eliminate a current financial disincentive that promotes extended foster care over adoption and legal guardianship.

In May, we need advocates to voice their support for the governor’s proposal so we can educate the legislature on the need to include this common-sense measure in the final FY 2012-13 state budget. There are two ways to join the Fostering Connections campaign:

• Resource families can join by clicking here.
• Individuals authorized to speak on behalf of their organizations can join by clicking here.

We also encourage you to join PPC’s PA-Child Advocacy Network so you can be alerted to opportunities to communicate directly with your legislators. 

By taking action this month, you could help Pennsylvania’s youth for a lifetime.

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The strong gains Pennsylvania has made in the past decade to increase access to pre-kindergarten programs are starting to erode, according to a new national study by the nonpartisan National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER).

The State of Preschool 2011: State Preschool Yearbook shows the percentage of Pennsylvania 4-years-olds benefiting from state-funded pre-kindergarten programs increased to 16 percent in 2011, up dramatically from only 2 percent in 2002. As a result, Pennsylvania’s “access ranking” among states moved upward from 33 in 2002 to a high of 24 in 2010, but it fell slightly to 25 in 2011.

In other words, access to pre-kindergarten in Pennsylvania is starting to slip after years of strong gains.

NIEER Director Steve Barnett expressed concern that pre-K accessibility in Pennsylvania could be further harmed by the failure to fund the Accountability Block Grant program. ABG funds are used, in part, to support pre-kindergarten and other evidence-based practices to improve student achievement, such as full-day kindergarten.

In the current school year, $100 million in Accountability Block Grant funding has been made available to school districts, but Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed budget for fiscal 2012-13 eliminates all funding for ABG. Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children is seeking restoration of $100 million in ABG funds in fiscal 2012-13.

“If Pennsylvania wants to build and maintain a competitive, world-class workforce, we should be making investments in early learning a priority and work to expand efforts to provide high-quality early learning opportunities,” PPC President and CEO Joan Benso said.

In addition to restoration of ABG funding, PPC also is calling on state lawmakers and the governor to:

• Restore Pre-K Counts in the 2012-13 budget to the $82.8 million appropriated in the enacted 2011-12 budget to maintain an annual service level of 11,400 children.
• Restore the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program line item (which supplements federal Head Start funding) to the nearly $37.3 million appropriated in the enacted 2011-12 budget to maintain an annual service level of 4,900 children next year.

Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts, Head Start and public school pre-kindergarten are among the best investments we can make in children’s education. Every dollar invested in these programs helps prepare our youngest learners for success in school and in life. It also saves the commonwealth much more money in the long term, by reducing the need for special education and remedial instruction, increasing the likelihood of graduation and college enrollment, and decreasing dropout rates, crime and incarceration.

High-quality early learning is especially beneficial to children whose educational opportunities are hindered by poverty or other circumstances. When at-risk children benefit from early learning investments like Pre-K Counts or the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program, they enter K-12 better prepared and less likely to struggle to keep pace with their peers.

Economists and business leaders are increasingly convinced that high-quality early education is a sound investment - creating a productive workforce, stimulating the economy, and yielding significant financial returns. The question is not how can we fund worthwhile programs like these, but rather, how can we afford not to?

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Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children is pleased to share this important message from Pennsylvania State Resource Family Association Executive Director Kathy Ramper:

In our nearly 40-year history, the Pennsylvania State Resource Family Association (PSRFA) has advocated for a number of state legislative changes that help foster, adoptive and kinship families. This year, we support Gov. Tom Corbett’s efforts to ensure Pennsylvania fully implements the federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act as a way to better assist resource families pursuing adoption and permanent legal custodianship.

By joining the Fostering Connections campaign, organizations and resource families can help eliminate some of the financial challenges faced by those who offer foster youth a permanent home. Under Pennsylvania’s current policies, foster parents can receive financial support until a youth turns 21 under certain circumstances, but financial support to adoptive parents and permanent legal custodians automatically ends when youth in their care turn 18.

This financial disincentive would be corrected through the full implementation of Fostering Connections, something the governor has proposed in his fiscal 2012-13 budget now being considered by state lawmakers. If enacted, the governor’s proposal would extend subsidies for adoption and permanent legal custodianship until a youth turns 21, as long as the youth enters into a permanent home at age 13 or older. It also would help foster parents by increasing eligibility for foster care extension to include youth who are working or enrolled in job training.

If you represent an organization that cares about youth in foster care, or are a resource parent, I encourage you to show your support by signing on to the Fostering Connections campaign. 

As a campaign partner, Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children will convey your support to state leaders in two important ways - first, by thanking Gov. Corbett for his commitment to prioritizing the needs of older foster youth, then by sharing your support with state lawmakers and urging House and Senate members to adopt the necessary changes to implement Fostering Connections as part of the 2012-13 state budget.

Working together, we can achieve this legislative victory for youth and the families committed to their care!

- Kathy Ramper, executive director, Pennsylvania State Resource Family Association

PSRFA believes that the best way to advocate for resource families is to provide them with the knowledge they need to advocate within their own communities. Click here to learn more about Fostering Connections or here to join PPC’s PA-Child Advocacy Network to learn about future opportunities to communicate with your legislators.

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Next week begins Child Abuse Prevention Month, and Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children is asking children’s advocates to take action in April to help thousands of youth who have experienced abuse or neglect.

We are asking you to help us show state legislators the strong support that exists across Pennsylvania to implement the federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act in the commonwealth.

Everyone wins if we fully implement this federal law. We would help more youth leave foster care to become part of permanent families, increase supports available to youth remaining in foster care and save money for the commonwealth and its counties as we draw down millions in new federal support.

Gov. Tom Corbett already is in support of this effort, having proposed the Fostering Connections implementation as part of his 2012-13 budget plan. Now, it is imperative that we let lawmakers know the benefits of implementing Fostering Connections and urge them to pass this legislation as part of the final budget.

We’re making it easy for organizations to send a message to lawmakers. Just click here to join the Fostering Connections campaign and show your support for the governor’s proposal.

Once you sign on as a campaign partner, we will share your support, first with Gov. Corbett - as we thank him for his commitment to prioritizing the needs of older foster youth - and then with the legislature as we urge House and Senate members to adopt the necessary changes to implement Fostering Connections.

You also can join PPC’s PA-Child Advocacy Network so you can be alerted to opportunities in the coming months to communicate directly with your legislators. 

Feel free to contact PPC’s child welfare director, Todd Lloyd, at tlloyd@papartnerships.org if you have questions or need further information. To learn more about Fostering Connections, visit our Porch Light Project website.

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This week marks the second anniversary of the signing of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), more commonly known as health care reform. While some facets of this landmark health care law don’t take effect until 2014, it’s worth noting that some aspects of the law already have begun benefiting Pennsylvania’s children and young adults:

- More than 1.1 million Pennsylvania children are benefiting from the law’s prohibition of lifetime limits on care.

- Insurance companies are no longer allowed to deny coverage for children in Pennsylvania with pre-existing conditions.

- Pennsylvania is taking steps to develop a health insurance exchange that will enable families with children to obtain and maintain health insurance in a simplified, streamlined way.

- Young adults up to age 26 can now, in most cases, remain on a parent’s health insurance coverage, benefiting nearly 65,000 young adults in the commonwealth.

Simply put, the reforms enacted two years ago are helping to keep Pennsylvania’s children healthy, creating a ripple effect that benefits everyone in the commonwealth.

Kids who have access to quality, preventive health care are less likely to suffer from chronic illness. They are less likely to miss school or cause their parents to miss work to care for a sick child. Families are less likely to put off medical care for their children and run the risk of needing more costly and complicated medical treatments later on. Healthy kids grow up to be healthy adults who are more likely to make a positive impact on our economy and society.

While there are lots of opinions about health care reform - and there is vigorous discussion about the future of health care in Pennsylvania and the nation - there is no disputing federal health care reform already is helping millions of Pennsylvanians receive the medical care they need to get healthy and stay healthy.

And that benefits all of us.

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With Pennsylvania’s budget season well underway, there’s been plenty of discussion about Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed spending plan for 2012-13. Much of the talk focuses on the more controversial aspects of the budget, but there’s one facet of Corbett’s budget that is worthy of attention because of its broad support – a proposal to help older foster youth and save the commonwealth money.

The Fostering Connections provisions of the governor’s budget would provide greater supports to older foster youth as they make the challenging transition to adulthood. Fostering Connections will extend adoption and guardianship subsidies until age 21, expand eligibility criteria for youth who can remain in foster care until age 21 and allow youth to re-enter foster care between ages 18 and 21.

Here’s just one example of how Fostering Connections can make a positive difference:

Seventy-year-old Betty Lawrence chose to adopt her former foster son, Kevin, because she wants to instill in him the importance of education. But Betty, like many older Pennsylvanians, lives on a fixed income that leaves her few resources to provide for Kevin. A state adoption subsidy helps her make ends meet, but under Pennsylvania’s existing policies regarding adoption that financial assistance will end once Kevin turns 18.

If Kevin were a foster child, Betty could receive state financial help until he turns 21. But because she chose to adopt Kevin and give him a permanent home, that financial help ends three years earlier. In other words, Betty is put at a financial disadvantage because she chose adoption over foster care!

Fostering Connections would correct this illogical policy by allowing Betty to receive an adoption subsidy until Kevin turns 21, enabling her and Kevin to focus more on his education and worry less about making ends meet on a fixed income. 

Pennsylvania taxpayers would benefit, too, because Fostering Connections will provide new sources of federal revenue. Implementation also will save the commonwealth and its counties money by reducing the number of youth in foster care as more youth like Kevin are adopted or enter into legal guardianship.

Fostering Connections is a common-sense, cost-effective plan that every Pennsylvania lawmaker should support as part of the final 2012-13 budget.

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Three years ago, Pennsylvania took a major step toward ensuring our high school graduates can compete and succeed in a global economy. The state enacted a plan to phase in a series of end-of-course exams – called Keystone Exams – in 10 core subjects.

Today, the Keystone Exams are at risk as the state looks for ways to save money. A proposal now under consideration by the State Board of Education would drastically scale back the number of Keystone Exams from the original 10 to only three: Algebra I, biology and literature.

The plan would eliminate exams for English composition, chemistry, geometry, Algebra II and three social studies exams. This would be a major setback for those who believe a high school diploma should be a guarantee that graduates are proficient in these critical subject areas and graduates shouldn’t need remedial classes for these subjects when they move on to any form of postsecondary education.

Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children believes eliminating Keystone Exams in such important subject areas is totally unacceptable and severely undermines efforts to ensure our students are prepared for success after high school.

PPC President and CEO Joan Benso testified before the State Board of Education today, urging the board not to eliminate seven Keystone Exams. Any short-term savings to the state would come at great expense to our graduates and the commonwealth’s long-term competitiveness, she told the board.

“For the class of 2010, more than 88,000 young people in Pennsylvania either failed to graduate with their class or graduated without demonstrating proficiency on the 11th grade PSSAs or the 12th grade retake,” Benso said. “We need to do more – not less – to ensure graduates are ready for the challenges of postsecondary education and/or careers. The regulations under consideration do less!”

PPC understands the difficult fiscal environment the commonwealth faces, and we appreciate that it may be challenging to develop and implement all 10 Keystone Exams in the time frame originally envisioned. There are ways to preserve the intent of the Keystone Exams despite fiscal challenges. PPC has offered two options:

- Extend the timeline for developing and implementing all 10 Keystone Exams, which draws out the costs of the exams without compromising their intent.

- Reduce the number of Keystone Exams from 10 to five – keeping exams in Algebra I, biology, civics, English composition and literature – and requiring students to demonstrate proficiency on all five starting with the 2019 graduating class (two years later than initially proposed).

When Keystone exams were first approved by the State Board of Education, the purpose was to ensure all students, regardless of which high school they attend or school district they live in, graduate with a meaningful diploma that guarantees the educational foundation needed to succeed beyond high school.

We cannot afford to retreat on this commitment to our young people or our commonwealth.

As Pennsylvania's Task Force on Child Protection prepares for its next public meeting*, it seems timely to pass along the latest news about the horrific impact of child abuse.

While we’ve long known the costly emotional toll child abuse can have on its victims and others in their lives, a new study sheds some light on the lifetime financial toll abuse takes on victims.

The study, released by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, estimates the average lifetime cost of child abuse at $210,012 per victim – an amount that includes $144,360 in productivity losses, $32,648 in childhood health care costs, $10,530 in adult medical costs, $7,999 in special education costs, $7,728 in child welfare costs, and $6,747 in criminal justice costs.

The CDC study estimates total lifetime financial costs associated with just one year of confirmed fatal and non-fatal abuse cases - including physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse and neglect – to be a staggering $124 billion.

“Compared with other health problems, the burden of child maltreatment is substantial, indicating the importance of prevention efforts to address the high prevalence of child maltreatment,” the study concludes.

While the solutions to reducing abuse are complex and multi-faceted, the CDC cited several programs that have proven effective in this effort, including investments in Nurse–Family Partnership, which offers support and guidance to first-time parents.

If you know or suspect a child is being abused,callChildLine at1-800-932-0313.

* The Task Force on Child Protection meets at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 8, in Hearing Room 1 of the Capitol's North Office Building.