Regular Session 2023-2024 House Bill 1600 P.N. 1881

PRINTER'S NO. 1881

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE BILL

No.

1600

Session of

2023

INTRODUCED BY SHUSTERMAN, MADDEN, WAXMAN, HOWARD, HADDOCK,

HANBIDGE, SANCHEZ, PARKER, HILL-EVANS AND KRAJEWSKI,

AUGUST 7, 2023

REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON CHILDREN AND YOUTH, AUGUST 7, 2023

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, further providing for payments to counties for

services to children, for review of county submissions and

for statistics and assistance for research, providing for

ensuring safe and humane institutional practices and further

providing for study of delinquents and recommendations to

courts; and, in departmental powers and duties as to

licensing, further providing for refusal to issue license,

revocation and notice.

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:

(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 coming within the

provisions of 42 Pa.C.S. Ch. 63 (relating to juvenile matters)

or children who are receiving services enumerated in 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.

(5) Achieve the purposes in a family environment whenever

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possible, separating the child from the child's parents only

when necessary for the child's welfare, safety or health or in

the best interests of public safety.

(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 children's safety 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 reduce the use of congregate living and institutional

placements.

(4) To improve permanency for children to reduce the

duration of out-of-home placement.

(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

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of delinquent children.

(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

and rehabilitation needs of delinquent children.

(ii) To operate and encourage the development of placement

resources that provide for a duration of placement that is

consistent with the protection of the public and the treatment,

supervision and rehabilitation needs of delinquent children.

(iii) To encourage the use of community-based residential

resources as alternatives to institutional placements when

consistent with the protection of the public and the treatment,

supervision 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. Sections 704.1(a), 709.2(b) and 722 of the act

are amended to read:

Section 704.1. Payments to Counties for Services to

Children.--(a) The department shall reimburse county

institution districts or their successors for expenditures

incurred by them in the performance of their obligation pursuant

to this act and [the act of December 6, 1972 (P.L.1464, No.333),

known as the "Juvenile Act,"] 42 Pa.C.S. Ch. 63 (relating to

juvenile matters) in the following percentages:

(1) Eighty percent of the cost of an adoption subsidy paid

pursuant to subdivision (e) of Article VII of this act.

(2) No less than seventy-five percent and no more than

ninety percent of the reasonable cost including staff costs of

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child welfare services, informal adjustment services provided

pursuant to [section 8 of the act of December 6, 1972 (P.L.1464,

No.333), known as the "Juvenile Act,"] 42 Pa.C.S. § 6323

(relating to informal adjustment) and such services approved by

the department, including but not limited to, foster home care,

group home care, shelter care, community residential care, youth

service bureaus, day treatment centers and service to children

in their own home and any other alternative treatment programs

approved by the department.

(3) Sixty percent of the reasonable administrative costs

approved by the department except for those staff costs included

in clause (2) of this section as necessary for the provision of

child welfare services.

(4) Fifty percent of the actual cost of care and support of

a child placed by a county child welfare agency or a child

committed by a court pursuant to [the act of December 6, 1972

(P.L.1464, No.333), known as the "Juvenile Act,"] 42 Pa.C.S. Ch.

63 to the legal custody of a public or private agency approved

or operated by the department other than those services

described in clause (2). The Auditor General shall ascertain the

actual expense for fiscal year 1974-1975 and each year

thereafter by the Department of [Public Welfare] Human Services

for each of the several counties and each city of the first

class whose children resident within the county or city of the

first class directly received the benefit of the Commonwealth's

expenditure. The Auditor General shall also ascertain for each

Commonwealth institution or facility rendering services to

delinquent or deprived children the actual average daily cost of

providing said services. The Auditor General shall certify to

each county and city of the first class the allocated

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Commonwealth expenditures incurred on behalf of its children and

notify the Secretary of [Public Welfare] Human Services and each

county and city of the first class of same.

(5) [Fifty percent of the reasonable cost of medical and

other examinations and treatment of a child ordered by the court

pursuant to the act of December 6, 1972 (P.L.1464, No.333),

known as the "Juvenile Act," and the expenses of the appointment

of a guardian pendente lite, summons, warrants, notices,

subpoenas, travel expenses of witnesses, transportation of the

child, and other like expenses incurred in proceedings under the

act of December 6, 1972 (P.L.1464, No.333), known as the

"Juvenile Act."] As follows:

(i) Fifty percent of the following costs incurred in

proceedings under 42 Pa.C.S. Ch. 63:

(A) The reasonable cost of medical and other examinations

and treatment of a child ordered by the court.

(B) The appointment of a guardian ad litem for a child in

the context of dependency proceedings.

dependency proceedings.

(D) The appointment of counsel for an indigent child in the

context of delinquency proceedings.

(E) Summons, warrants, notices, subpoenas, travel expenses

of witnesses and transportation of the child.

(F) Other similar expenses incurred in these proceedings.

(ii) The intent of the reimbursements authorized under

subparagraph (i)(C) and (D) is to supplement, and not supplant,

necessary funding for required juvenile counsel.

(iii) The following apply to the money to be reimbursed to

the counties under subparagraph (i)(C) and (D):

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(A) Counties shall include in their needs-based budgets

required by section 709.1 the purposes for which the money shall

be used.

(B) Counties shall prioritize expenditures of the money in

ways that are designed to maintain, enhance or improve the

quantity or quality of legal services provided to juveniles in

accordance with national best practices in defense funding.

(6) Effective July 1, 1991, the department shall reimburse

county institution districts or their successors one hundred

percent of the reasonable costs of providing adoption services.

(7) Effective July 1, 1993, the department shall reimburse

county institution districts or their successors eighty percent

of the reasonable costs of providing foster home care, community

residential care, supervised independent living and community-

based alternative treatment programs.

(8) The department shall reimburse county institution

districts or their successors for the reasonable costs of

institutional services for dependent and delinquent children

other than detention services for delinquents in accordance with

the following schedule:

(i) Effective July 1, 1992, fifty-five percent.

(ii) Effective July 1, 1993, sixty percent.

* * *

Section 709.2. Review of County Submissions.--* * *

(b) The department determination shall consider whether the

county's budget is reasonable in relation to past costs,

projected cost increases, number of children in the county and

the number of children served, service level trends and

projections of other sources of revenue. The department

determination shall also consider whether the county's budget

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prioritizes expenditures of the money reimbursed to the county

in accordance with section 704.1(a)(5)(i)(C) and (D) to

supplement, and not supplant, necessary county funding for

required juvenile counsel in ways that are designed to maintain,

enhance or improve the quantity or quality of legal services

provided to juveniles in accordance with national best practices

in defense funding.

* * *

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) 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

number of children:

(i) who are rejected or denied admission; and

(ii) who are ejected or removed after admission.

(2) The statistics and reports under paragraph (1) shall

include the children's demographics and the reason or reasons

for either the rejection or the ejection and shall be used by

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the department to recommend policy changes as necessary to

prevent placement instability and minimize the number of

movements among out-of-home placements during the course of a

delinquency case.

Section 4. The act is amended by adding a section to read:

Section 724.1. Ensuring Safe and Humane Institutional

Practices.--(a) The safe and humane care of children in

facilities demands that restrictive procedures, including

solitary confinement, restraint, strip searches and body cavity

searches, only be used as measures of last resort to protect a

child from behavior that poses a serious and immediate risk of

physical harm to themselves or others. The following apply:

(1) The restrictive procedures may not be used for

punishment, retaliation or administrative convenience, as a

result of staffing shortages or for any reason other than

securing the immediate physical safety of a youth.

(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law,

inappropriate use of restrictive procedures shall be grounds for

full investigation and license revocation, in addition to

criminal investigation.

(b) The following requirements apply:

(1) To ensure the safe and humane care of children in

facilities, the department shall establish standards not

inconsistent with the laws of this Commonwealth and the rules

and regulations of the various departments of the Commonwealth,

for all facilities within this Commonwealth. The following

apply:

(i) Humane care includes a prohibition on the use of

restrictive procedures, including chemical restraints, manual

restraints, mechanical restraints, seclusion, exclusion, strip

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searches and body cavity searches.

(ii) Safe care includes the absence of any and all instances

of abuse.

(2) The department shall be responsible for the maintenance

of safe and humane care and for that purpose, the department or

its duly authorized representative shall have free and full

access to the premises and records of any facility and full

opportunity to interrogate or interview any officer, employee or

resident of the facility. The department shall make routine

announced and unannounced daytime and nighttime inspections of

all facilities.

(3) The department shall expeditiously review all

allegations of unsafe or inhumane care and maintain a public

record of confirmed instances that have occurred in facilities.

(4) Whenever the department, upon inspection, investigation

or complaint, finds a facility in violation of departmental

rules or regulations, or that a facility has failed to

establish, provide or maintain standards of care required by

this act or by the department, the department shall give

immediate written notice of the violation or failure to the

officers charged with managing the facility. The following

apply:

(i) The notice shall include a description of the violation

or failure, the corrective action needed and a specified time

frame for making any necessary corrections.

(ii) Upon receipt of the notice, it shall be the duty of the

officers to comply with the direction of the department. If the

officers fail to comply with the department's direction within

the specified time frame, the department may do one or more of

the following:

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(A) Revoke the facility's license.

(B) Request the Attorney General to institute appropriate

legal proceedings to enforce compliance with the direction.

until the officers comply with the direction.

(D) Refer the matter for criminal investigation.

(1) A limited period of "cool down" or "time out" for a

youth is not considered solitary confinement. The following

apply:

(i) The period shall be limited to three hours, with release

of the youth as soon as the youth has regained self-control.

(ii) Support staff, such as a social worker, must be

notified and made available to the youth to assist the youth in

calming down.

(iii) Staff must closely monitor the youth during the period

and maintain physical proximity.

(iv) Any restriction beyond three hours must be documented

and reported to both the department and the Office of the Youth

Ombudsman.

(2) Strip searches and body cavity searches may be conducted

only as a last resort and only where there is probable cause and

authorization from an individual in the agency overseeing the

facility. The following apply:

(i) When authorized, strip searches must be performed by two

staff or medical personnel of the same gender as the youth in an

area that ensures the privacy and dignity of the youth.

(ii) Body cavity searches may only be performed by outside

medical providers.

(iii) To the degree possible, and only when searches are

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necessary, facilities should rely on alternatives such as wands

or metal detectors.

(iv) The use of a strip search or body cavity search must be

documented and reported to the department. Documentation must

include:

(A) The probable cause for the search.

(B) The authorization for the search.

the search.

(d) The department shall ensure that children and their

families and guardians understand their right to lodge a

grievance or otherwise report any instances of unsafe or

inhumane care, in written or oral form, formally or informally,

or anonymously, without fear of retaliation. The following

apply:

(1) Assistance to file a grievance shall be available upon

request by a child.

(2) An adult with whom a child seeks assistance shall be

permitted to provide assistance and, notwithstanding mandated

reporting, shall keep confidential any information shared by the

child for purposes of filing the grievance.

(e) As used in this section, the following words and phrases

shall have the meanings given to them in this subsection unless

the context clearly indicates otherwise:

"Chemical restraint" means a drug used to control acute,

episodic behavior that restricts the movement or function of a

child. The term does not include a drug ordered by a licensed

physician as part of ongoing medical treatment or as

pretreatment prior to a medical or dental examination or

treatment.

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"Exclusion" means the removal of a child from the child's

immediate environment and restricting the child alone to a room

or area, even if the door is unlocked. The term does not include

a situation in which a staff person remains in the exclusion

area with the child.

"Facility" means a setting, including a children's

institution, youth development center, camp or other facility at

which a child is held as a result of the child's alleged or

actual dependency or delinquency under 42 Pa.C.S. Ch. 63

(relating to juvenile matters).

"Manual restraint" means a physical hands-on technique that

lasts more than one minute and that restricts the movement or

function of a child or portion of a child's body. The term does

not include a manual assist of any duration for a child during

which the child does not physically resist or a therapeutic hold

for a child who is eight years of age or younger for less than

10 minutes during which the child does not physically resist.

"Mechanical restraint" means a device that restricts the

movement or function of a child or portion of a child's body.

The term includes handcuffs, anklets, wristlets, camisoles,

helmets with fasteners, muffs and mitts with fasteners, Posey

devices, waist straps, head straps, papoose boards, restraining

sheets and similar devices. The term does not include a device

used to provide support for functional body position or proper

balance or a device used for safe transportation to and from a

facility or medical treatment, such as sandbags to limit

movement after medical treatment, a wheelchair belt used for

body positioning and support or a helmet used for prevention of

injury during seizure activity.

"Solitary confinement" means isolating a child in a cell or

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room, locked or unlocked, for punitive or disciplinary purposes.

The term does not include a "cool down" or "time out" period as

described in subsection (c)(1).

Section 5. Sections 725 and 1026(b)(5) of the act are

amended to read:

Section 725. Study of Delinquents; Recommendations to

Courts.--(a) The department shall have the power, and its duty

shall be:

(1) To establish and administer a program designed to assist

the juvenile courts and other public and private agencies, on

their request, in the diagnosis and study of juvenile

delinquents and of children with mental or behavioral problems,

and to recommend to them the most appropriate disposition for

the rehabilitation and treatment of such children; this program

shall be based on review of local studies of the children but

when local studies indicate the need, or when it is requested,

may include residential study of the children in centers which

the department is hereby authorized to establish and operate.

(2) To accept custody of children committed by the juvenile

courts for study, and on the basis of its review of local

studies of each child and any additional residential studies as

are deemed necessary, to recommend to the court that the child

be placed in an appropriate public or voluntary institution, or

to recommend any other placement or treatment which may be

indicated. The department may recommend that the court transfer

any child from one type of care to another or return him to his

home for trial periods. Notice of any transfer shall be sent by

the department promptly to the parents, guardian or nearest

relative of the child. The department may also recommend the

discharge of a child from its custody but any decision with

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respect thereto shall remain the sole responsibility of the

committing court.

(b) The department may not place a delinquent child in an

institution in another state unless the state shares a border

with this Commonwealth.

Section 1026. Refusal to Issue License; Revocation;

Notice.--* * *

(b) The department shall refuse to issue a license or shall

revoke a license for any of the following reasons:

* * *

(5) Mistreating or abusing individuals cared for in the

facility, including a violation of section 724.1.

* * *

Section 6. This act shall take effect in 60 days.

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