Youth in Pa. Residential Institutions Unsafe, Disconnected, Denied Quality Education

Kate Burdick and Maura McInerney, WHYY •

Two recent reports on the plight of more than 3,700 children and youth living in residential facilities across Pennsylvania should provide a wake-up call to anyone who cares about children.

One, Unsafe and Uneducated: Indifference to Dangers in Pennsylvania’s Residential Child Welfare Facilities, Education Law Center and Children’s Rights, details harrowing experiences of children in group homes, residential treatment facilities, and other Pennsylvania child welfare residential placements.

In Broken Bridges: How Juvenile Placements Cut Off Youth from Communities and Successful Futures, youth advocates in a Juvenile Law Center program describe horrific treatment those young people endured in Pennsylvania juvenile justice facilities.

About the Expert

Kate Burdick is a Senior Attorney at Juvenile Law Center with over a decade of experience advocating for youth in the justice and child welfare systems. She first started at Juvenile in 2009 as the eighth Sol and Helen Zubrow Fellow in Children's Law, then later served as an Equal Justice Works Fellow (sponsored by Greenberg Traurig, LLP) and Staff Attorney. Between fellowships, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Michael M. Baylson of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.