Op-ed appearing in LNP Lancaster Online on Sunday April 26, 2026  

 

Every day, organizations like COBYS Family Services support crises in which ambiguity and complexity is the norm – finding safe homes for neglected, abused children, navigating behavioral health emergencies, and balancing community safety and youth needs in the delinquency system.

For over 45 years, COBYS Family Services has cared for foster children in Lancaster County and the surrounding regions. Today, we provide wrap-around services in foster care, adoption, counseling, family life education and permanency for children and families at risk in Lancaster County and the surrounding area. In the last year, we have facilitated 18,161 days of care for 103 foster children.

As cases become increasingly more complex, and families’ needs escalate, the safety net of children’s services providers are expected to respond. Yet, throughout Pennsylvania, and across the country, children’s services providers are facing their own looming crisis: liability insurance is no longer affordable, accessible, or even available to support the care of children.

In a recent statewide industry survey, 82% of children’s services providers had no substantiated/indicted incident of physical or sexual abuse in the last 5 years. Yet, 88% reported experiencing a significant premium increase in general/professional/abuse liability coverage costs – this represented an increase of 40% from a 2020 survey.

At a time when needs of youth are growing and intensifying, organizations like COBYS are forced to reduce services, or refrain from launching new programs. The demand has not disappeared, but no one is willing to offer coverage for vulnerable populations. Premiums have surged, coverage is restrained, and carriers are leaving the market altogether.

Government contracts, like those between private providers of foster care and counties in the Commonwealth, rarely account for the true cost of insurance. With insurance renewal rates hitting triple digit percentages, organizations are left to absorb steep premium increases without sufficient support. At the same time, insurers are responding to growing trends – rising litigation costs, larger jury awards, unfavorable funder contract language, and increased claims in areas like child welfare, juvenile justice and behavioral health. But, when insurers pull back, risk does not disappear – services scale back.

When providers close, vulnerable populations lose access to critical support. There is already a shortage of foster parents who can support medically needy children; it takes a special individual to be willing to bring a child with significant needs into their home. Yet, COBYS and other children’s services providers like us have heard specifically that insuring medically needy children is going to be an insurer red flag – even outside of foster care. If insurers are willing to renew, many are considering capping coverage at limits far below what funders require. County children and youth agencies struggle with their own workforce and capacity challenges and are also not equipped to take on this level of service need. Provider agencies, like COBYS, are crucial to provide support to vulnerable populations in our communities.

Policymakers must examine the legal and regulatory environment contributing to escalating liability costs. Reform does not have to come at the cost of victims, but there must be more meaningful balance that protects providers and does not undermine access to care for those who need it presently.

As youth and family needs intensify during a time when providers cannot access adequate protection to operate, the question is not whether Pennsylvania can afford to address this problem during its present budget season. The true question is who will be bold enough to stand up for change before vulnerable children in the Commonwealth are left without homes and without necessary services.

 

Michael Lausch, Ed.D., is the executive director of COBYS Family Services, headquartered in Lancaster County. Lausch also has more than 30 years of experience as an educator and principal. He previously served as superintendent of the Donegal School District.