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Community umbrella agencies urge more funding protection, legal indemnity; Turning Points says liability costs forced exit
Summary
Community umbrella agencies and nonprofit providers told council they need clearer funding, legal protections and coordinated city supports to sustain neighborhood-based child-welfare work.
Multiple community umbrella agencies (CUAs) and child-welfare advocates testified Aug. 7 about operational strains and policy changes needed to support neighborhood-based child welfare services.
David Fair, executive director of Turning Points for Children, said his organization exited the CUA system because it could not afford the high cost of liability insurance despite being one of the city’s largest CUAs. "Turning Points was proud of our core work... We eventually needed to exit the CUA system solely because we could not afford the high cost of liability insurance," Fair told the committee, urging the city to consider legal protections or insurance support for CUAs.
CUA 6 (Caring People Alliance) Program Director Gwendolyn Drummond described a sustained quality‑improvement operation that includes weekly case‑file reviews, a monthly medical‑complexity review with DHS nurses, and a mini‑clinic that provides screenings and vaccinations in partnership with Covenant House. Drummond said CUA 6 has achieved the city’s top “five‑bell” scorecard rating for four consecutive years and emphasized the labor‑intensive, case‑by‑case work that scorecards may not fully capture.
Donna Cooper of Children First urged the committee to add child‑well‑being measures to the CUA scorecard and recommended counting children — not just families — when sizing caseloads, and to consider weighted measures for medically complex cases. Cooper said that, although DHS has reduced foster‑care entries and in‑care populations, near‑fatalities and other severe outcomes persist and should prompt better measurement and integration across city agencies.
Otis Bullock, CEO of Greater Philadelphia Community Alliance (GPCA), said GPCA assumed operations for CUA 9 about two years ago and described an organization that hires many staff with lived experience in the child‑welfare system. Bullock invited council members to tour services and said providers want partnership-focused reforms rather than public “finger‑pointing.”
Several witnesses asked the city to examine whether CUAs can receive indemnification or other legal protections similar to the city’s to reduce liability costs; Fair suggested the city either extend legal protection or underwrite insurers’ costs and flagged a need for paid legal counsel for CUAs in family-court proceedings.
Ending — Witnesses asked council for follow-up on legal protections, potential city underwriting of liability costs for CUAs, and a clearer plan for channeling prevention funds through neighborhood providers.
