Recent news

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKrOXdCEF5A]

"Riveting! A real-life thriller." - The Hollywood Reporter
"Deeply shocking and continually surprising." - Variety
"A gut-punch of a documentary." - Philadelphia magazine

"Kids

"Kids for Cash," produced and directed by Robert May (who also produced the Oscar-winning film "Fog of War"), has been called "Riveting! A real-life thriller" by the Hollywood Reporter. The film reveals the true story behind the notorious "kids-for-cash" case in Luzerne County, PA, which Juvenile Law Center uncovered in 2007.

“Since I moved around from school district to school district so often, tracking down all of the paperwork was a huge problem. No one knew when I was graduating … if I had known, I could have applied to college.” — from Casey Family Programs' publication "A Roadmap for Learning"

This quote from a former foster youth is an all-too-common example of the obstacles that these kids face—more than 400,000 youth nationwide, in any given year—in achieving school success.

Imagine being locked in a seven by seven foot cell, with your only window to the world looking out at a brick wall.

You are alone; you have no pen or paper, no books, no audio or visual stimulation. You are often denied clothing or you are provided a 'ferguson gown'—a Velcro-strapped garment that severely restricts your physical movement.

You are occasionally denied sheets or blankets or even a mattress so you won't harm yourself.You are rarely let out of your cell, spending 23 or 24 hours a day there, your only respite a shower. You are denied mental health treatment because you are in isolation, but you cannot be released from isolation until you learn how to better manage your behavior. The drudgery and despair of this monotonous and maddening existence continues almost uninterrupted for nearly seven months.

Imagine you’re only sixteen years old.

For the second time in the last three months, a Pennsylvania judge has ruled that Pennsylvania’s juvenile sex offender registration requirements are unconstitutional. On January 16, 2014, Monroe County Court of Common Pleas President Judge Margherita Patti-Worthington ruled that Pennsylvania's law requiring juveniles convicted of sexual offenses be subjected to lifetime sex offender registration violates their rights under the Pennsylvania Constitution.

The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare (DPW) has opened for comment its draft application to the federal government regarding the operation of the Medicaid program in Pennsylvania. This application, entitled "Healthy Pennsylvania," includes a plan to impose work requirements and health insurance premiums on individuals between the ages of 21 and 26 who are newly eligible for Medicaid by virtue of their status as youth who have aged out of foster care.

In an important ruling earlier this month, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania held that the Commonwealth could not use a youth’s statements to therapists in court-ordered placement to prosecute the youth on new charges.

Late yesterday, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania granted plaintiffs’ motion for partial summary judgment against former Luzerne County Juvenile Court Judge Mark Ciavarella, the judge at the center of the now infamous 'kids for cash' scandal. Specifically, U.S. District Court Judge A. Richard Caputo found that Ciavarella violated the constitutional right of the children who appeared before him to an impartial tribunal, as guaranteed by the Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Ciavarella is currently serving a 28-year federal prison sentence following his criminal conviction in February 2011 on charges arising out of the scandal.

On January 5, 2014, the New York Times published an editorial entitled Zero Tolerance, Reconsidered, decrying zero tolerance policies in schools. The editorial echoes other recent commentary as well as numerous studies and reports making the same point. Sadly, despite widespread demands for change, we see little progress on the horizon and the stories continue to make headlines.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) includes a provision that provides health insurance to some former foster youth until age 26.  This provision became effective on January 1, 2014. 

The following documents have been released by the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare to provide guidance to stakeholders, including youth, on the implementation of this provision.