Up to 10 children have been sleeping inside the city’s own child welfare office while they wait for a foster home.
CBS News Philadelphia found children sleeping in the Department of Human Services building at 1515 Arch Street in Center City. A 16-year-old boy told investigative reporter Liz Crawford on Tuesday morning that he had been sleeping in the building, and that about eight kids were staying there, including a 5-year-old. Beds are set up in a large room.
Later that Tuesday, a DHS employee dropped a young boy off for the night, until he could be placed in a foster home.
The city has not answered questions about why children sleep there, or how long they stay. A spokesperson for the state Department of Human Services said the state is still gathering information, and that in the past children have been allowed to stay in the office on a case-by-case basis.
Marci Hamilton, a child welfare expert and professor at the University of Pennsylvania, told CBS the situation suggests a department that is understaffed and underpaid, but that children should not be sleeping wherever they are placed.
Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, who chairs the Committee on Children and Youth, told CBS she has heard this before and will hold hearings to examine why children are sleeping in the Center City building. She called it an emergency measure that highlights broader crises in the systems that serve children and in housing.
The finding is not a one-city problem. A federal audit published in July 2024 found that more than 9,000 children in foster care nationwide had to stay temporarily in hotels, office buildings, and other settings when states could not find suitable placements in fiscal year 2022.
But it lands in Philadelphia at the worst possible moment. The foster care system is under renewed scrutiny after the death of 10-year-old Malayshia Alford. Her foster mother, Carprice Williams, is charged with murder. District Attorney Larry Krasner announced an independent investigation on Thursday, Council introduced three resolutions the same day, including one from Councilmember Cindy Bass calling for hearings into the foster care system, and Mayor Cherelle Parker signed an executive order Tuesday creating a Child Welfare Review Committee.
The open questions are the city’s. How many children are sleeping in that building tonight, how long do they stay, and what is the plan to get them into a home instead of an office? So far, the city has not answered.
