Source: timesleader.com 10/2/25
To protect kids, Pennsylvania maintains a registry of people convicted and suspected of child abuse and neglect.
The registry is used for background checks across the commonwealth, and in theory, it keeps those who could harm children away from schools, workplaces and other sensitive settings.
But the state places people on the list without legal proceedings in which they or an attorney can mount a defense. A lawsuit pending in Commonwealth Court alleges this violates a person’s right to due process and reputation under the Pennsylvania Constitution.
As that case plays out, a bipartisan group of lawmakers is targeting another controversial part of the registry: the lack of distinction between someone convicted of a crime like child sex trafficking and other incidents, like someone who left their kid in a vehicle unattended while running an errand.
A bill introduced earlier this year by state Sens. Tim Kearney (D., Delaware) and Judy Ward (R., Blair) would implement a tier system into the registry so that people accused of less severe offenses are treated less harshly.
“We’re just trying to make the whole thing a little more balanced and a little more fair for everybody,” Kearney said of the bipartisan effort.
Renee, a mother in Philadelphia, was added to the registry after she didn’t schedule a recommended dental procedure for her teen son, who has severe autism.
Spotlight PA agreed to use only Renee’s first name due to the stigma of being on the registry.
According to Renee and her attorney, this happened around the time her son’s father died, and the family was grieving. Though the boy eventually went to the dentist and the delay caused no permanent medical issue, Philadelphia’s Office of Children and Families put Renee on the child abuse registry, listing her as “indicated” in 2019.
The state applies this label when child welfare officials “find substantial evidence that abuse has occurred based on medical evidence, the child protective service investigation, or an admission by the perpetrator,” according to a Department of Human Services report.
After Renee was added to the registry, she lost her job at…
The only offense where one is guilty before proven innocent – so offenses.
This registry is a bit confusing. Aren’t offenses like child sex trafficking and sexual violence against children reserved for the hit list? Or do offenses overlap between Pennsylvania’s regular hit list, and this other registry intended for physical abusers. It sounds like they’ve doubled up people on both registries. No wonder why this woman is pissed, because God forbid she shares a registry with people that committed sex crimes against children. Welcome to the real world sister. We go through this all the time, because everyone on the hit list is considered the worst of the worst. No one cares that you missed an appointment to the dentist.for.your child. You’re just as bad as a sexual trafficker of children. 😁