Keeping Pennsylvania Kids Safe: Shapiro Administration Highlights $50 Million Increase in 2026-27 Budget to Protect Children by Enhancing ChildLine, Supporting County Children[...]

Governor Josh Shapiro's 2026-27 budget invests an additional $50 million in county children and youth services to prevent and address child abuse and neglect.

The budget also includes $658,000 to enhance ChildLine staffing and provide training to all ChildLine workers to support greater triage and referral capacity.

Butler, PA - Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (PA DHS) Secretary Dr. Val Arkoosh this week met with Butler County leadership and community organizations to highlight the $50 million increase that Governor Josh Shapiro's 2026-27 Budget makes in children and youth services across the Commonwealth to protect Pennsylvania's children and strengthen families.

During a visit to Butler County Children and Youth Agency, Secretary Arkoosh met with local leaders about the county's work to assist children, parents, and families who become involved in the children and youth system. The visit also highlighted the County's ongoing prevention efforts to more effectively meet the needs of individuals and families.

"Pennsylvania's county children and youth agencies work hard to keep kids safe and make sure they are living in environments free from abuse, neglect, and violence. When a family falls on hard times and needs to be connected to housing or food, the child welfare system is not always set up to effectively meet those needs," said Secretary Arkoosh. "We want to do everything we can at the state level to take a more proactive and preventive approach to ensure our counties can focus on their important work to help in cases of abuse and neglect. The investments in Governor Shapiro's 2026-27 budget are a major step toward building a system that more effectively meets the unique needs of children and families across Pennsylvania."

Governor Shapiro's 2026-27 budget increases the Commonwealth's investment into the county child welfare system by $50 million to ensure counties have the resources to hold abusers accountable and keep kids safe.

The budget also supports a more preventive and proactive approach to keeping children safe by investing $658,000 in ChildLine. This funding will enhance ChildLine staffing and provide more training to all workers, which will allow caseworkers more time and resources to effectively triage calls before referring them to the counties or appropriate agency.

In addition to investigations, the Butler County Children and Youth Agency is responsible for providing services to families to assist them in recovering from abuse and neglect situations as well as preventing it from occurring in the future. In Butler County, many of those services are provided in partnership with community-based agencies.

"Butler County applauds the effort of the Shapiro Administration to focus children and youth agency resources to those who need our interventions the most," said Butler County Children and Youth Agency Administrator Charlie Johns. "We appreciate Secretary Arkoosh's visit to our county to hear about the innovative steps we have taken locally to ensure that families who are free of abuse and neglect, but who are in need of housing and other community based preventative services, receive them."

Building on Three Years of Progress to Protect Children and Support Families

Under Governor Shapiro's leadership, the Shapiro-Davis Administration has advanced initiatives to help children thrive and empower parents as they work to support their families. The 2026-27 budget also invested:

• $100 million in mental health and school safety funding for K-12 schools, ensuring every student has access to the resources and support they need to thrive.
• Continued funding to provide universal free breakfast for 1.7 million Pennsylvania students so that students enter the classroom every day nourished and ready to learn.
• Distributed SUN Bucks food assistance to an estimated 1.2 million Pennsylvania children in 2026 so that families can feed their children in the summer months when they do not have access to free or reduced-priced meals at school.
• $3 million to ensure students have access to menstrual hygiene products at no cost so that they can focus on their education.
• Continued the Child and Dependent Care Enhancement Tax Credit, which provided more than $444.5 million through nearly 858,500 tax credits over four years.

Read more about Governor Shapiro's 2026-27 Budget.