State: Pennsylvania
Contact Person: Marsha Lynch
Contact Address: The Pennsylvania Child Welfare Training Program.
University of Pittsburgh, School of Social Work. 403 East Winding Hill Road, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
Contact Phone: (717) 795-9048
Contact Email: mal110@pitt.edu
URL: http://www.pacwcbt.pitt.edu/CAPTA.htm
In 2010, three Citizen Review Panels were established in Pennsylvania. Each panel is located regionally and consists of volunteers living within that region. These three panels currently cover thirty-six of Pennsylvania’s sixty-seven counties. Pennsylvania’s Department of Public Welfare will be meeting with the panels in June of 2012 to discuss possible expansion of Pennsylvania’s panels to cover the remaining counties.
During the first year of operation the panels spent much of their time learning about child welfare practices in Pennsylvania and identifying priority areas. Beginning in 2011, panels began to conduct outreach to counties gather more county specific information. The data gathered during the first two years of operation were used to generated recommendation that were largely focused on statewide issues. At the beginning of 2012, panels were invited to Pennsylvania’s first All Panel Meeting. During this time, panels had opportunity to learn from each other’s experiences and to discuss any shared goals for 2012. Throughout this discussion, it was learned that each panel had very different goals and priority areas for 2012. However, each panel had developed a plan for gathering more county specific data and will be sharing that information during their second All Panel Meeting in June of 2012.
ach panels recommendations and Pennsylvania’s Department of Public Welfare’s responses for 2010 and 2011 will be available on the National Citizen Review Panel Virtual Community in early May 2012. Individuals wishing to learn more about Pennsylvania’s Citizen Review Panels are encouraged to contact the Pennsylvania Child Welfare Training Program (717) 795-9048 or by e-mailing pacrp@pitt.edu
