For Immediate Release                                                                                                                                                     Media Contact

June 2, 2026                                                                                                                                        Terry L. Clark, President & CEO

terryc@pccyfs.org

717-651-1725

 

(HARRISBURG, PA) The Pennsylvania Council of Children, Youth & Family Services (PCCYFS) released Remembering the Past and Looking Forward: Barriers and Recommendations for Serving Youth with Complex Needs in Congregate Settings, a report looking at some of the nuances and greater context of how providers can support youth with complex needs through the network of congregate care facilities within Pennsylvania.  

“PCCYFS is regularly confronting the question of why providers are unable to offer placement opportunities for Pennsylvania’s complex youth, and it is critically important to understand context,” said PCCYFS President and CEO, Terry L. Clark. “Without our congregate care settings, many of these youth languish at inappropriate levels of care, but there is important history and unfilled needs that must be addressed to adequately support our congregate settings in this work. Through a survey of our members who are serving these children, we can offer a better understanding of what the state can do, how they can invest, to make sure these youth always have a safe, trauma-informed place to receive treatment and support.”

The report looks at congregate settings within the dependency, delinquency, and children’s behavioral health system, and reviews current statewide initiatives. It includes a series of recommendations around funding needs, technology infusions, better-informed discharges, youth-driven lengths of stay, and improved coordination and consistency. It offers cost-saving investment opportunities for Pennsylvania to lead with better outcomes and supports for our most complex young people.

Read the full report here.

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About PCCYFS: The Pennsylvania Council of Children, Youth and Family Services (PCCYFS) is the collective voice for private agencies that serve Pennsylvania’s most vulnerable children and their families. PCCYFS represents private agencies that employ more than 12,000 professionals statewide. These services include foster care/kinship care, adoption, residential treatment, behavioral health services, education, counseling, independent living/transitional living services and others. For more information, visit www.pccyfs.org.