HARRISBURG – The PA House Children & Youth Committee approved a measure to create a statewide child abuse database. House Bill 321 is part of a package of bills that protect children in foster care and adoption systems, in memory of Grace Packer, a 14-year-old girl murdered by her adopted mother and her mother’s boyfriend. The bill would require a statewide child abuse database run by the Office of Children, Youth, and Families in the PA Department of Human Services, to be brought online by the end of the year. Bill sponsor, Bucks County Rep. Craig Staats says getting this system online will give PA a central database for all 67 counties to use, providing up-to-date information on those who have been victims of child abuse or who have been convicted of child abuse, so that we can protect the victims and punish the abusers. House Bill 321 now goes to the full House.
REP. CRAIG STAATS