PENNSYLVANIA
Philadelphia Inquirer
By Jeremy Roebuck
Inquirer Staff Writer
Ten states have rushed to toughen their reporting laws on child sex abuse in the eight months since Jerry Sandusky’s arrest set off a nationwide scandal.
One is conspicuously absent from that list: Pennsylvania.
And many of the state’s victim advocacy groups have worked to keep it that way – at least for now.
Amid pressure to pass headline-grabbing legislation in response to the case against the former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach and the equally landmark trial of two priests from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, child-welfare advocates have urged lawmakers to show restraint.
Many worry that in the heat of scandal, the state runs the risk of overcorrecting – of passing knee-jerk bills with requirements that would overwhelm cash-strapped social services agencies, or worse, cast undue suspicion on families and individuals tenuously accused of abuse.
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