Lackawanna County Office of Youth and Family Services and Luzerne County Children and Youth Services among just four child protection agencies in Pennsylvania with provisional licenses
Jun. 26—Most county-run child protection agencies across Pennsylvania show deficiencies, but Lackawanna's is one of only four with a downgraded license, online state data shows.
One, Luzerne County Children and Youth Services, first downgraded in September 2021, is on its fourth provisional license and risks revocation without further improvements. The other two are child protection agencies run by Blair and Clearfield counties in western Pennsylvania.
The agencies in the other 63 counties have full licenses, though the latest inspection reports of many show lesser deficiencies that required a correction plan, according to reports published on the state Department of Human Services website. Jefferson County, also in western Pennsylvania, had a provisional license for six months last year but returned to a full license in October, according to its licenses.
The state Department of Human Services dropped the Lackawanna County Office of Youth and Family Services' license from full to provisional Friday for a six-month period ending Nov. 15.
State inspectors found office staff allowed children to live in unfit homes, failed to properly track cases and conduct interviews and acted too slowly to remove children, according to a state inspection report made public Friday. The department found dozens of violations.
In one case, inspectors said a caseworker found a home's heat could not be safely turned on because of debris piled along walls and the person in charge had mental health and physical health concerns that prevented meeting children's needs. In another, staff couldn't find one family and, despite having two addresses, made no "attempts at contacts."
County Department of Health and Human Services Director William Browning acknowledged Friday that the agency sometimes can't respond quickly because of as many as 40 unfilled openings. But he also blames "bad actors" in an "ethically challenged and legally questionable" Scranton police investigation of the office for spurring staff resignations and retirements and scaring off prospective replacements. Scranton Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti and District Attorney Mark Powell said the agency should concentrate on fixing problems rather than blaming police.
Browning said Monday he could not comment on the county's child protection agency being among four with provisional licenses because he's unsure of "the dynamics of the other counties other than Blair, which also appears to be lack of staffing based on news reports."
Browning also claimed state inspectors told him they too feared police scrutiny if they did not issue a provisional license. He said the statement was made verbally and he could not provide further proof of his claim.
State Department of Human Services spokesman Brandon Cwalina declined to comment on Browning's claim.
In Luzerne County, Joanne Van Saun, the former children and youth services director, pleaded guilty in October 2021 to endangering children by ordering staff to close hundreds of referred abuse cases to eliminate a backlog. She was sentenced to 34 months of probation with the first nine months on house arrest.
The Lackawanna County Office of Youth and Family Services is trying to address shortcomings through training, paying more consistent attention to regulations and attempting to hire staff, according to the state inspection report.
The county commissioners expressed full confidence Monday in Browning, now also in the process of establishing a county department of health.
"I think we have good people in there," Commissioner Chris Chermak said. "Bill Browning will get there. He's got a lot on his plate, but he'll get things organized. We're just going to have to get more people. That's going to be the issue. It's not an easy job. They certainly aren't overpaid. So we're going to work on trying to fix the problem."
Swearing, Commissioner Jerry Notarianni said the police investigation was over "absolutely ... nothing."
"We're a model for the state," Notarianni said, pointing out that state Secretary of Aging Jason Kavulich rose through Browning's agency. "We do it right. This isn't the city of Scranton. This isn't nonsense. It's done right."
Notarianni said he could not comment on the county being one of four on provisional licenses because he has not seen the data.
In a text, Commissioner Debi Domenick referred to the county's statement Friday explaining the issues were largely caused by not having enough staffing.
As the commissioners defended Browning, Scranton Police Chief Tom Carroll defended his investigators.
Carroll called Browning's statements "unfortunate." He said his department acts professionally and conducts sound criminal investigations.
"This investigation will speak for itself," Carroll said.
In his response to state inspectors, Browning alleged city police charge residents for low-level crimes more frequently than 62% of departments nationwide and are 7 1/2 times more likely to arrest people of color for those offenses.
On Monday, county spokesman Joseph D'Arienzo cited Police Scorecard, an online project founded by activist and data-scientist Samuel Sinyangwe, as the source of Browning's statistics. The project seeks to measure levels of police violence, accountability and racial bias for more than 16,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide.
The project noted it does not have enough data to include Scranton in its rankings.
Carroll said he's unfamiliar with Police Scorecard and wants to review their data before commenting further.
Contact the writer: bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9147; @BorysBlogTT on Twitter.
