It has been three years since a listening to in Philadelphia exploded the problem of kid welfare, as one mom after one other advised the town council their horror tales of separation from their kids.
Final week, a particular committee of the Philadelphia Metropolis Council issued a searing 50-page report on what it has uncovered since that assembly and what must be mounted to make kids safer. Philadelphia, at one time, eliminated kids on the highest charge of any giant metropolis in the USA.
“The analysis is evident: For the overwhelming majority of youngsters, household preservation is safer than foster care. And for kids in typical youngster welfare instances, the outcomes are higher when they’re allowed to stay in their very own houses,” the Particular Committee on Little one Separations in Philadelphia wrote in a report directed at Pennsylvania’s legislature and Division of Human Providers (DHS) in addition to the town’s youngster welfare system.
DHS investigates households which were reported for alleged youngster abuse or youngster neglect. Extra instances of neglect are investigated than abuse, and neglect typically includes kids residing in poverty – resembling not sufficient meals within the residence, insufficient housing.
“Neglect needs to be faraway from the state legislation defining youngster abuse and may now not be topic to (Little one Shield Providers) investigations,” the report says. “In each the definitions of abuse and neglect … the next clause needs to be added: Any household situation that may be remedied by the supply of concrete assist, together with however not restricted to, direct money help, meals, clothes, housing help and/or childcare, shall not represent neglect and shall not be trigger for (an) investigation.”
In a single case, in response to the report, a Pennsylvania faculty district threatened to name ChildLine on mother and father who couldn’t afford their youngster’s lunch cash.
Phoebe Jones has spent a few a long time listening to the tales of ladies who’ve had their kids taken away. She’s a spokeswoman for DHS-Give Us Again Our Youngsters, a bunch that fashioned in Philadelphia in 2006 as moms and grandmothers fought removing of youngsters from their households.
“Youngsters are poor as a result of their moms, by and huge, are poor. And actually it’s worthwhile to be coping with the poverty of the moms and grandmothers and the opposite caregivers – that’s actually the final word treatment to the excessive charge of removing,” she stated. “Although caregiving is valued at $1.5 trillion to the U.S. financial system, we’re thought-about beggars on the gate, undeserving of something, even our youngsters. DHS youngster removals simply act as if the bonding of mom and youngster is nothing.”
She applauded the report’s suggestions.
“We felt that it actually was a victory for the moms and grandmothers and others who’ve actually been spending a long time difficult unjust removing (of youngsters) and in addition working to vary the insurance policies and practices,” she stated.
Among the suggestions from the committee had been:
“There are simply too some ways for kids to be positioned into the system for investigation,” the report states. “No procedures presently exist to guard the rights of the households who’re below investigation by DHS. Little transparency exists within the interactions between DHS and the Household Courtroom.”
Richard Wexler has served on one of many subcommittees that wrote the report. He’s the chief director of the Nationwide Coalition for Little one Safety Reform. To him, the vital suggestion within the report is offering a high-quality legal professional for kids and their households.
He expects resistance to the committee’s suggestions, which suggests upending a long time of laws aimed toward youngster welfare, significantly legal guidelines enacted after the conviction of Jerry Sandusky. The state legislature has repeatedly heard “the horror tales” and the recommendation has been to trample on the civil rights and civil liberties of households and kids, he stated.
They’ve been advised: “We’ve to report something and every part, in any other case they may say horrible issues will occur to kids, however what I’d level out is: Horrible issues are taking place to kids proper now. That is the system you constructed, that means DHS, varied municipal governments and the state of Pennsylvania. Are you pleased with it? Is it working? Is it preserving kids secure? Clearly it isn’t,” he stated.
He hopes to see the report result in conversations with state legislators, the state’s DHS and Philadelphia’s metropolis council. The co-chairs of the particular committee had been metropolis council’s David Oh and Cindy Bass.
“In a way, we’re not achieved. We’ve to see this by. We’ve to maintain the strain on DHS, on the town authorities and on the state authorities, and it’s going to be very tough. We’re up towards 50 years of well being terrorism,” he stated.
Kim Robust could be reached at kstrong@gannett.com.
Electors take a group photo after the end of proceedings. Pennsylvania’s electors cast their votes for President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance in the chambers of the state House of Representatives at the Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa.
December 17, 2024.
Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.comDan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.com
Penn Medicine researchers Katalin Karikó Ph.D., and Dr. Drew Weisman Ph.D., won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their work on mRNA technology that contributed to the COVID-19 vaccine research.
Patents typically last about 20 years. The university holds at least four patents for its mRNA technology across the United States and Europe.
Researcher Karikó, an adjunct professor at Penn Medicine for 36 years, worked as a senior vice president for BioNTech between November 2013 and October 2022, according to her LinkedIn profile. She is considered an external consultant for the company as of Jan. 2, according to its website.
The COVID-19 vaccine, also known as Comirnaty, generated about $5 billion in sales in 2024.
As part of the deal, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is expected to chip in $170 million for the Penn royalties and $364 million towards the NIH royalties owed.
As a company, BioNTech generated about $3.9 billion in revenue during 2023, down from $17.7 billion in 2022. BioNTech estimated 2024 revenue to be between $2.7 billion and $3.3 billion.
The university licensed its mRNA patents to several companies between April 2010 and August 2020, including Epicentre Technologies Corp., mRNA Biotherapeutics Inc. and Cellscript.
In 2017, BioNTech sublicensed the university mRNA technology from Cellscript and expects to keep developing more pharmaceutical medications, such as cancer treatments and flu vaccines, using the university patented technology.
Licensing revenue at the University of Pennsylvania has been a substantial revenue stream for the Philadelphia institution since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
In fiscal 2021, the university collected $300 million in license revenue. In fiscal years 2022 and 2023, the university garnered $1 billion each year. During fiscal year 2024, it reported $466 million in licensing revenue.
In May 2024, Penn Medicine researchers developed an mRNA vaccine for the H5N1 avian flu, leveraging prior COVID-19 vaccine research. The research was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services.
The Duke University Human Vaccine Institute was awarded $7 million from the federal health agencies to conduct clinical trials in early 2025.
But for the commercialization of such research, the university relies on pharmaceutical manufacturers to license such patents and take the drug to market.
It was not immediately clear which companies, if any, have licensed the experimental avian flu technology.
Jan. 2 (UPI) — A Pennsylvania man has been indicted on charges of attempting to support the foreign terrorist organization Hezbollah, the Justice Department reported Thursday.
Jack Danaher Molloy, 24, a former resident of Pittsburgh, attempted to provide material support and resources to the terrorist group from August 2024 through December 2024, in Lebanon, Syria, the Western District of Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, the Justice Department said in a statement.
Molloy undertook these actions “knowing that the organization was a designated terrorist organization and that the organization had engaged in and was engaging in terrorist activity and terrorism, ” a release from the Justice Department said in a criminal complaint.
Molloy, a citizen of both the United States and Ireland, previously served on active duty status in the U.S Army, traveled to Lebanon in August 2024 and attempted to join Hezbollah but was told by “multiple individuals that the time was not right, and that he needed to take other steps before he could join the terrorist organization,” the Justice Department release said.
Molloy continued to try to join Hezbollah while living in Upper St. Clair, Pa. and allegedly continued to communicate with members of the organization online and in Lebanon. He also expressed his hatred toward, and promoted violence against, Jewish people,” documents show.
“Molloy’s alleged animus toward Jews was also evidenced by multiple images and videos on his electronic devices and the usernames he chose for his social media and email accounts, including the username “KIKEKILLER313″ on the social media platform X. In one alleged WhatsApp exchange with a family member, Molloy agreed that his ‘master plan was to join Hezbollah and kill Jews,’” Justice Department documents show.
He is also alleged to have visited a website that showed the possible incarceration location of Robert Bowers, the man who carried out the 2018 Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue shooting during which he murdered 11 Jewish worshippers. It is thought that Molloy was a Bowers sympathizer.
The indictment also says Molloy lied to FBI investigators at the Pittsburgh International Airport in October, 2024 about his contact with members of Hezbollah. He said had no current or future plans to become involved with the organization and that he had no business in, nor was he meeting with anyone, in Syria.
“These statements and representations were false because Molloy knew at that time that (1) he did have current and future plans to become involved with Hizballah and (2) Molloy travelled to Syria in furtherance of his attempts to join Hezbollah, and while in Syria, set up a meeting with an individual there,” the Justice Department release said.
Molloy faces up to 28 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted on the material support and false statement charges.
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