Advocates call for changes in Pa. laws

Associated Press

HARRISBURG

Child advocates called Monday for changes in state laws they say could have stopped the child sex abuse a former Penn State assistant football coach is accused of committing and would help protect other youngsters.

The advocates cited a range of problems in Pennsylvania laws they have been pushing for action on in recent months, some for years. The laws are designed to protect child victims — and in many cases, have proved effective.

But speakers at a Capitol news conference said state law must be strengthened with respect to reporting suspected abuse to authorities.

“Really what happened at Penn State is happening to lots of kids everywhere,” said Cathleen Palm, executive director of the Protect Our Children Committee.

Palm and others said that everyone who, by law, is required to report suspected child abuse, such as a teacher or medical professional, should be required to contact authorities, not just a superior.

They say the current practices can delay investigations and do not protect the victims’ rights. The Penn State case is unusual in that an adult says he witnessed an act of abuse, whereas most child-abuse or sexual- abuse cases are not witnessed by adults, they said.

A spokesman for Republican Gov. Tom Corbett said Monday that the governor is listening to proposals to strengthen the state’s laws and thinks it is a good time to improve them but would not say what, if anything, he thinks should be done.

Children’s advocates also said ChildLine, a state hotline where reports of child abuse are supposed to be called in, does not always pick up or respond, extending some children’s misery that otherwise could have been stopped.

“It’s like the fire department: It can’t be good most of the time,” said Frank Cervone, executive director of the Philadelphia-based nonprofit organization Support Center for Child Advocates.

Counties need more resources to investigate and respond to reports of child abuse, and an independent ombudsman’s office should be created to help ensure the system is working for victims, the children’s advocates said.

Another key issue they raised is the question of how a case is categorized as child abuse.

They say social workers cannot protect a child or provide services in the home, such as family counseling, if county child-welfare investigators cannot determine who abused the child.

That means that some children end up getting abused again, said Debra Schilling Wolfe, executive director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Field Center for Children’s Policy, Practice and Research.

“It’s one of the narrowest state laws in the country,” Wolfe said.

At least partly because of that narrowness, just 15 percent of the 24,615 calls to ChildLine last year resulted in substantiated cases of child abuse — among the lowest in the nation, she said.

Also, the definition of who can be a perpetrator of child abuse — broadly speaking, someone who is responsible for the care of a child — is unclear, leaving it up to the counties to develop their own interpretation, Wolfe said.

Former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky is accused of sexually abusing eight boys, some on campus, over 15 years. Questions have been raised about why it took years for witness accounts and police investigations to surface.

The scandal resulted in the ousting of school President Graham Spanier and longtime coach Joe Paterno and has brought shame to one of college football’s legendary programs.

Sandusky has said he is innocent. He has acknowledged he showered with boys but said he never molested them.

Paterno, major college football’s winningest coach, has conceded he should have done more after hearing about allegations against Sandusky. Spanier has said he would have reported a crime if he had suspected one had been committed.