Delaware County Council unanimously voted April 22 in favor of a resolution to participate in a regional youth detention center, writes Kenny Cooper for WHYY.
Delaware County has been without a detention center since it closed in 2021, following allegations of “physical, sexual and psychological abuse by staff.”
The county is talking with Berks, Dauphin, Lackawanna and Lehigh counties about the regional center.
The counties would share the cost of developing and running an existing facility at 1261 County Welfare Road in Bern Township, Berks County.
The partner counties would operate as the Southeast Youth Detention Agency.
There has actually been a trend against putting juveniles into detention centers away from their homes, said Chris Welsh, interim Chief of Social Services and Community Programs for the county.
“But a greatly decreased need is not the same thing as no need,” he said, in advocating for the regional detention center.
When a child in Delaware County is accused of a crime, judges still order their detention, even for a short time, but other facilities in the region might be full, or counties don’t want to take the juvenile, so some have been sent as far away as Ohio, Welsh said.
Read more about a proposal for a regional juvenile detention center at WHYY.
