Philly still keeps the benefits of foster care youths despite a 2022 law banning the practice

Stoneleigh Fellow Steve Volk and his Resolve Philly colleague Julie Christie have published a new article for The Philadelphia Inquirer on the city’s Department of Human Services and its practice of taking money belonging to youth in foster care.

A year ago, after a Resolve Philly/Inquirer investigation revealed that the city Department of Human Services routinely took millions of dollars belonging to youths in foster care, City Council passed a law banning the practice.

But despite the law, DHS acknowledges that it’s still keeping the money — about $1.3 million in Social Security benefits for 380 foster kids in a typical year, according to the investigation — and plowing it back into the city’s general fund.

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