Berks County Children & Youth Services
Berks County Children & Youth Services
Mission
The Mission of the Berks County Children and Youth Services is to protect children and assure their physical & emotional well-being as provided by law, and to preserve, strengthen & empower their families.
Report Child Abuse: Call 1-800-932-0313
If you are a mandated reporter, go to: Pennsylvania Child Welfare Portal
To learn more about protecting Pennsylvania's children from abuse and neglect, go to www.KeepKidsSafe.pa.gov
About Department / Agency Responsibility
Berks County Children and Youth Services is assigned to protect children, up to eighteen years of age, from abuse and neglect. The staff investigate all reports of child maltreatment in Berks County. For families at risk of future abuse or neglect, services and monitoring are implemented to ensure child safety and allow the children to remain in their homes. For some cases, placement outside the family's home is warranted. When this happens, the parents participate in services to allow the children's safe return. For situations in which a safe return is not able to occur, the Berks County Children and Youth Services staff request that the Court terminate parental rights. A permanent adoptive situation is located, often within the child's family and/or community.
Mandated Reporter Request for Update Form
Please follow the instructions on how to submit the request for update that is found at the top of the form. In addition, please take note to the information at the bottom that explains what Mandated Reporters have the right to know as per the Child Protective Services Law.
Announcements
Programs and Services
When foster children are unable to be returned to their birth families, the court may order that parental rights be terminated and the child should be placed for adoption.
Berks County Children and Youth Services is mandated to provide care for children who must be moved to out-of-home placement.
Reports of abuse or neglect to children often bring to light troubling family situations.
Following the assessment of a child’s safety, related to incidents of abuse or neglect, there are occasions when it is necessary for Berks County Children and Youth Services to remove a child from their living situation.
"A Child's Happiness is Priceless"
Learn about steps to becoming a resource parent or our Partners in Parent program today.
Berks County CYS currently contracts with Service Access and Management (S.A.M.) for truancy reduction services. Schools and Magisterial District Judges offices may make referrals to S.A.M. based on a County wide protocol.
Berks County Truancy Reduction Protocol
If you feel your child is in need of truancy services, please contact your child’s school district and request assistance.
Berks Initiative for School Attendance (BISA) Executive Summary (2011-2021) Overview
Notice of Nondiscrimination
Notice of Nondiscrimination Policy
Berks County Children & Youth Services does not exclude, deny benefits to, or otherwise discriminate against any person on the ground of race, color, national origin, disability, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion or creed in admission to, participation in, or receipt of the services and benefits under any of its programs and activities, whether carried out by Berks County Children & Youth Services directly or through a contractor or any other entity with which Berks County Children & Youth Services arranges to carry out its programs and activities. If you have questions or need assistance, contact the Berks County Children & Youth Services Section 504/ADA Coordinator, Patricia Ferry.
If you believe that Berks County Children & Youth Services has failed to provide these services or discriminated in another way on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex, you can file a grievance with the:
Patricia Ferry
Berks County Children & Youth Services
633 Court Street
11th Floor Services Center
Reading, PA 19601
610-478-6700 ext 6708
PFerry@berkspa.gov
You can file a grievance by mail, email, or in person. If you need help filing a grievance, the Section 504/ADA Coordinator, Berks County Children & Youth Services, is available to help you.
You can also file a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, electronically through the Office for Civil Rights Complaint Portal, available at https://ocrportal.hhs.gov/ocr/portal/lobby.jsf, or by mail or phone at:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 200 Independence Avenue, SW
Room 509F, HHH Building
Washington, D.C. 20201
1-800-368-1019, 800-537-7697 (TDD)
Complaint forms are available at http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/office/file/index.html