A string of child-abuse cases have come to light in Philadelphia over the past few weeks, and Carol Spigner has a chance do something about the problem.
Spigner, a professor at Penn's School of Social Policy and Practice, was appointed co-chair of Mayor John Street's recently announced Child Welfare Advisory Panel for Philadelphia.
The panel was created to review the actions of the Department of Human Services "in response to the documentation of a string of child fatalities" in the past five years, she said.
Recently, The Philadelphia Inquirer ran a series of stories exposing the deaths, spurring controversy over DHS' practices. The commissioner of DHS has since stepped down.
Cindy Christian - a Penn Pediatrics professor and the co-director of the Center for Child Protection and Health at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia - was also appointed to the panel.
Christian said that while the panel has a significant amount of work ahead, it's creation is an important step forward.
"If you have a system where children are supposed to be protected and they die . then something isn't working," she said.
She added that part of the problem is that DHS, a government organization run with taxpayer money, did not make these deaths known to the community.
The panel is expected to issue a final report in May, Spigner said, adding that it is too soon to predict what sort of conclusions it will reach.
In addition to examining DHS in the report, Spigner said the panel will make recommendations for change.
She said that each of the panel members has a specific area of expertise within child welfare, hers being child welfare policy and practice.
Christian has a strong background in health and medicine, and is an expert in child protection and welfare.
Because of the diversity of their backgrounds, panel members offer both local and national perspectives, Christian said, adding that her perspective is unique because she often works directly with DHS.
Not all of the members are based in Philadelphia, and the mayor has spoken well of the panel's creation.
"We are grateful that some of the nation's leading child welfare experts have joined this important panel," he said in a press release.
DHS officials did not return calls for comment.
