READ AND PASSED

The enacted ordinance requires the Department of Human Services to provide or oversee age-appropriate oral and written information about children’s rights to be free from abuse for children under 18 involved in indicated child-abuse cases or being moved to another home or facility. DHS must submit quarterly reports to City Council showing how many children were covered, whether the policy was followed, and reasons for any noncompliance.

Amending Title 21 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled "Miscellaneous," by adding a new Chapter requiring the Department of Human Services to report on its compliance with a policy that requires that a summary of children's rights to be free from abuse be communicated to all children who are the subject of an investigation into a credible report of child abuse or who are being placed in another home, foster home, group home, or other facility, under certain terms and conditions.