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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. W. Curtis Thomas |
  
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Thomas calls for major overhaul of city's DHS in wake of criminal charges
HARRISBURG, Aug. 8 – State Rep. W. Curtis Thomas, D-Phila., is calling for a comprehensive overhaul of the city's Department of Human Services in the wake of criminal charges that were brought last week against employees and contractors of the agency and the parents of Danieal Kelly, a 14-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who died in her home of starvation and neglect in 2006.
"I am outraged at the indifference that this case demonstrates, not just the indifference of the parents who let their child starve to death in her own filth, but also of the city agency that is charged with protecting children and responding to families in these kinds of crises," Thomas said. "This case makes clear that comprehensive and wholesale changes are needed not just within DHS, but in the entire way we approach these families. These changes need to be organizational and systemic."
Thomas praised Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham for bringing criminal charges in the case.
"Even though this death occurred two years ago, the district attorney stayed on the case and pursued it until she was able to bring charges against the people who failed Danieal," Thomas said. "The district attorney's tenacity not only forces the people who are allegedly responsible for her death to answer for it, but forces us to confront an agency and a system in the city that the district attorney has rightly described as being in 'total meltdown.'"
Thomas suggested four steps that should be taken to improve DHS and the services provided to families in crisis overall.
Thomas said DHS in Philadelphia should be decentralized, with satellite offices located in neighborhoods across the four corners of the city or in neighborhoods where a high proportion of children and families are being served by DHS.
"The people charged with working with these families and providing services to them need to be closer to the children and families," he said. "They need to be in the community. The only part of DHS that should be left in center city Philadelphia is executive and administrative offices. The service delivery system should be in the communities with children and families."
Secondly, Thomas said the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare should immediately deploy a protective services task force to DHS to review the agency's protective services organizational and management systems, and make recommendations based on best practices for improving the safety and welfare of children at home.
Thirdly, the agency should be required to submit quarterly progress reports to the mayor, city council and the state on the welfare and safety of children under its jurisdiction, Thomas said.
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Thomas said the mayor also needs to organize a top-level Children and Families Commission to explore ways in which the Family Court Division, Health Department, probation services, nonprofit children and family providers, county assistance offices, and the behavioral health community can cooperate and collaborate on how best to serve children and families in the system.
In addition to the above recommendations, Thomas urged the agency to reduce its caseload and eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy within the agency.
Thomas stressed that he is not calling for a state takeover of DHS.
"We have been through that before, and there are specific recommendations for change which came out of the last takeover by the state and subsequent investigations. Enough is enough," he said. "The Mayor, city council and the agency must act now to ensure the welfare and safety of children and families.
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CONTACT: Michael J. Herzing |