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Blair County CYF regains license after it was revoked, must determine structural improvements

Outside of the Blair County Courthouse in Hollidaysburg, PA.
Sydney Roach
/
WPSU
The Blair County Children, Youth and Families agency is housed inside of the Blair County Courthouse, which is in Hollidaysburg. Pennsylvania's Department of Human Services renewed its license for six months as part of a settled agreement.

Blair County’s Children, Youth and Families agency will get a regular license for six months. This comes after Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services had revoked the agency’s license earlier this month.

DHS announced the settled agreement Wednesday. It calls for Blair County to come up with a plan to improve CYF operations and comply with state regulations. DHS previously said the Blair County CYF office had an “extraordinary and unprecedented volume of uncompleted and delinquent reports.

County Commissioner Dave Kessling said six months will give the county time to make the needed changes.

"We are committed to making the tough decisions necessary to make that happen. There will be more positive news in the near future," Kessling said.

The state will continue to provide technical assistance and training, along with continued monitoring.

UPDATE:
It's unclear what will happen at the end of the six month time period.

"The department may take any licensing action pursuant to the Human Services Code that it determines to be appropriate, including but not limited to issuance of a provisional license," said Brandon Cwalina, the press secretary for Pennsylvania's DHS.

Other Children, Youth and Family agencies throughout the state are operating on provisional licenses, including western Clearfield, northeast Lackawanna, western Lawrence, western Indiana, southeast Delaware, and central Northumberland.

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Sydney Roach is a reporter and host for WPSU with a passion for radio and community stories.