Delaware County negotiates access to regional juvenile detention center that would guarantee eight beds

Chris Welsh, interim chief of social services and community programs, told the board the county is negotiating to join a Berks County-led regional juvenile detention center that would give Delaware County guaranteed access to eight secure beds.

"If this agreement comes to pass, that will provide us with 8 beds where there is no right of refusal," Welsh said. He added the facility is planned for 40 beds overall and, on an optimistic timetable, would not be operational until January 2028. Welsh said contract terms — including how quickly a county using another county's allotted bed would have to relocate a youth — are still being "ironed out," and he raised 24 hours as a possible replacement window under discussion.

Board members asked whether other counties in the consortium could ever occupy Delaware County's guaranteed slots; Welsh said the county is negotiating language to protect guaranteed access while allowing operational flexibility if surrounding counties are not using their allotments. He also described a governance board that would provide oversight of the regional facility and said Berks County would operate an on-site community-based shelter to allow step-down movement between more and less secure placements.

The board did not take a formal vote on joining the agreement at this meeting and directed staff to continue contract negotiations and report back with more-specific terms. The County will retain existing contracts with Abraxas, Montgomery and Adelphi as fallback placements while the regional arrangement is finalized.