HARRISBURG — On Thursday, August 27 at 11:40 am in Room 60, EWing of the State Capitol Building, Sandra Moore, Administrator of the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts’ Office of Children & Families in the Court is scheduled to testify before the State House Committee on Children and Youth regarding the Supreme Court’s statewide initiative to improve the lives of dependent children.

Your coverage is invited. The hearing begins at 10 am.

The Court’s initiative, known as “The Permanency Practice Initiative,” strives to safely:

• Reduce the number of children adjudicated as dependents and in court-ordered placement
• Reduce the time children spend in the foster care system
• Reduce the number of children who re-enter care
• Reduce the dependency court caseload
• Reduce the cost of children in care
• Reduce the need for residential and institutional placements, and
• Increase child placement stability.

Also testifying with Sandra Moore will be Dauphin County Common Pleas, Dependency and Orphan’s Court Judge Todd Hoover; Dauphin County Commissioner George Hartwick, III; Allegheny County Children’s Court Administrator Cindy Stoltz and Chester County Department of Children and Youth and Families Director Keith Hayes.

“The early results of our efforts are very promising,” Moore said. “We are finding additional extended family members who are becoming lifelong connections for the dependent children and counties are already beginning to report reductions in the number of children in foster care.

“By quickly moving dependent children into permanent family settings, we not only significantly improve their chances to succeed; we significantly reduce the cost of institutional care for the counties, thus saving tax dollars for other valuable county children and family services.”