Nearly 70 more accusers come forward to say they were sexually abused at Pa. juvenile facilities

Dozens more people have come forward to say in lawsuits that they were sexually abused by staff at juvenile placement facilities across Pennsylvania, the latest development in a string of cases filed by scores of others in recent months against institutions across the state.

The new suits, filed Wednesday in a mix of county and federal courts, include allegations of abuse from nearly 70 people saying they were groped, molested, raped, or beaten by staffers. The accusations span 10 different facilities across Pennsylvania, three of them operated by the state Department of Human Services.

The new complaints mean that nearly 150 people have now said in civil suits in the past three months that they were sexually abused as children or teens by staff at juvenile detention facilities or treatment centers for young people with behavioral problems.

Jerome Block, a New York-based attorney who has helped coordinate the suits in Pennsylvania — as well as similar suits targeting facilities in other states — said: “These institutions and the adult staff who perpetrated this widespread sexual abuse must be held accountable.”

The new suits were filed against 10 facilities in Pennsylvania, eight of which have already been sued by Block and his firm for similar allegations. Three of the facilities — Loysville Youth Development Center and the North Central and South Mountain Secure Treatment Units — are state-run, and one, the now-closed Delaware County Juvenile Detention Center, had been locally operated. It was was shut down by a judge in 2021 over allegations of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse.

The others are or were privately operated: VisionQuest and Devereux, which both had multiple locations in the state; Northwestern Academy, in Northumberland County; Carson Valley Children’s Aid, in Flourtown; Presbyterian Children’s Village, in Rosemont and Southwest Philadelphia; and St. Gabriel’s Hall, in Audubon.

The suits represent the latest troubling development for juvenile justice in Pennsylvania. Advocates for years have alleged physical and sexual abuse at placement facilities, and in recent months, there have been a variety of problems reported at the city’s Juvenile Justice Services Center, including significant overcrowding and complaints that some children are being denied access to education in violation of federal law.

The new complaints contain accounts from men and women who reported abuse that ranged from groping to repeated and violent rapes when they were children.

One accuser said he was raped twice by a female staff member when he was 16 and living at the state-run Loysville facility in 2015. When he reported the abuse to a male staff member, the suit says, the staffer said the behavior was “normal,” then exposed himself and masturbated in front of the teen on several occasions.

Another accuser, a woman, said she was raped as a 16-year-old virgin at Presbyterian Children’s Village in 2011 or 2012. The abuse has caused “severe emotional distress and trauma, including but not limited to having traumatizing flashbacks,” she said in her lawsuit.

(The Inquirer does not identify without permission people who say they were sexually assaulted.)

Officials at many of the facilities that were sued said Wednesday they could not comment on the allegations, either because they couldn’t discuss pending litigation or hadn’t seen the new complaints.

Brandon Cwalina, spokesperson for the Department of Human Services, added that the agency “has zero-tolerance towards abuse and harassment, and we take seriously our responsibility to protect the health and safety of children at licensed facilities.”

Ryan Herlinger, spokesperson for Delaware County, said officials there were committed to implementing reforms to the juvenile justice system, including by expanding services for young people, exploring the development of a new county-owned facility, and considering alternatives to detention.

Joan Plump, chief of staff at Gemma Services — a parent company for the former Presbyterian Children’s Village — said “our first priority has always been and always will be protecting” those in the organization’s care.

Kevin Feeley, spokesperson for Merakey, a parent company of the former Northwestern Academy, said Merakey “closed Northwestern Academy in 2016 as part of our organization’s strong belief that children do better in family and community-based settings than in institutional settings.”

A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, which ran St. Gabriel’s Hall, declined to comment Wednesday.

Representatives for the other facilities either could not be reached or did not provide immediate comment.

The urgent issues facing the juvenile justice system in Pennsylvania have occurred even as Philadelphia, the state’s largest county, has significantly reduced the number of young people it sends to placement each year. Staffing shortages and facility closures across the state — some in the wake of scandal — have also limited the number of places where young people can be sent to receive treatment.