Six Priorities to Help Kids Thrive
What would it take for every child in Delaware County to feel safe, supported, and seen?
That’s the question the Voices for Children Coalition asked as we shaped our 2025 advocacy priorities in February. The answers we heard were clear: children want safe housing. Families want healthcare that’s close, affordable, and accessible. Youth want reliable transportation to get to school, work, and a never-ending list of appointments and extracurricular activities. And across every conversation, one message echoed again and again: we need systems that speak our language, recognize our needs, and center our humanity.
But too many children are being left behind due to barriers that are entirely fixable with the right priorities and the political will to act. The Voices for Children Coalition is calling on local and state leaders to champion six core priorities in 2025 that address root causes of child instability and build a more equitable future for families in our region. These solutions were shaped by direct conversations with youth and families, input from frontline advocates, and a hard look at data showing where Delaware County continues to fall short.
Here are the six issues we believe Delco must prioritize:
Ensure Equitable Transportation Access
No child should miss school, a medical appointment, or a job interview because they can’t afford a ride. Yet for many Delco families, that’s the reality. The Delaware County Community Status Assessment (March 2024) shows transportation as a critical barrier: 10.33% of households countywide lack vehicle access, rising to 15.58% in Upper Darby Township and 29.4% in Chester City.[1] A 2023 SEPTA study found Delco riders had among the longest regional commute times[2]. Service cuts and fare increases now worsen transportation challenges. The Voices for Children Coalition supports expanded fare subsidies, community-based transportation programs, and increased state funding to prevent service reductions that disproportionately harm vulnerable families. Every child deserves equal access to opportunities regardless of their family’s transportation resources.
Expand School Based Health Services
Delaware County was the only southeastern Pennsylvania county without a health department until 2022. Currently, recent hospital closures leave 585,000 residents with just two hospitals. [3]Too many students miss class for preventable health reasons: poor dental health is a top cause of school absences[4], while vision problems affect 1 in 4 children.[5] The mental health crisis is even more severe: 25,200 local children experience behavioral health disorders, yet fewer than half receive needed treatment.[6] With only one licensed mental health provider per 290 residents[7] and families struggling to find providers accepting Medicaid, we need school based solutions.
The crisis extends beyond physical health. As one provider noted, “a lot of children are on waiting lists for autism testing, and those waits are two years, and mental health services are scarce. We don’t have enough providers. There’s not enough services.”
The Voices for Children Coalition supports comprehensive on-site school health services including mobile vision and dental units, plus integrated mental health services that remove barriers of cost, transportation, and stigma. When children feel well, they learn well.
Expanding Affordable Housing Opportunities
During the 2023 – 2024 school year, 1,370[8] children were homeless countywide, a number that is almost certainly underreported.[9] The housing crisis affects renters most acutely: one in three county residents are renters, facing an average rent of $1,470 per month for a two-bedroom apartment, requiring an income of $59,000 per year.[10] While the median Delco salary is $88,576[11], this figure masks stark disparities across communities, from Chester City’s median income of $39,809[12] to Darby Borough’s $45,128[13]. The result? Twenty eviction filings per day, making Delaware County the fourth highest for evictions in Pennsylvania, with over 200 families waiting for housing assistance[14].
As one school social worker shared, “I have parents looking for housing. The waiting lists at Community Action are well over 100 people… and most of them have jobs, they just can’t find a place that is reasonably priced.”
The Voices for Children Coalition advocates for expanded investments in affordable housing, rental assistance, and prevention of eviction, building on the comprehensive recommendations from the Delaware County Housing Coalition. No child should worry about where they’ll sleep tonight.
Advance Language Accessibility
More than 1 in 10 Delco residents speak a language other than English at home[15], and our schools reflect this growing diversity: there were slightly more than 1,800 children whose first language is Spanish enrolled in public schools in the 2024 school year, compared to about 700 in 2018.[16] This increasing diversity requires greater cultural competence among child serving institutions, as Hispanic children come from a variety of heritages depending on their parents’ country of origin and ethnicity. Yet far too many public services fail to offer culturally competent care and enhanced translation options.
As one Delco school administrator emphasized about equity and access with the growing Spanish speaking population: “For myself, I’m the only Spanish speaking administrator in the central office. I’ve worked to ensure everything is being translated, for example, we broadcast our board meetings with Spanish subtitles, and all of our flyers are bilingual. I think that’s extremely important, because, you know, when we talk about a sense of belonging, we want to make sure that everybody has equitable access.”
The Voices for Children Coalition supports expanded translation services, hiring of bilingual staff, and creation of best practices and protocols for equitable language access. Language access is a civil right, and no family should be left out of vital services because of a language barrier.
Increase Equitable Healthcare Access
Too many families delay care because they can’t afford it or don’t trust the system to meet their needs. With recent hospital closures leaving Delaware County’s 576,000 residents with only two hospitals, access to preventive care has become even more critical. The closure of Chester’s only pediatric practice has created particularly severe gaps, as one health professional explained: “In addition to the problems that the Crozer system had we also experienced the closing of the only pediatric care practice in the city of Chester, so children really are not seeing pediatricians as regularly as they can because it’s impossible.”
The insurance system creates additional barriers, with families caught between medical assistance and private insurance when both refuse coverage. As one provider explained, families get “stuck in this fight” where ultimately “the family gives up, or even the providers themselves will say, ‘Oh, we can’t help you because you also have private insurance.'”
The Voices for Children Coalition supports broader insurance coverage that includes culturally competent providers and prioritizes preventive care, especially for families facing economic and geographic barriers. Access to care before a crisis leads to better long-term health outcomes.
Strengthening Child Welfare Safety and Protections
The trauma facing Delaware County’s children demands urgent action. In 2024, there were 1,362 child abuse reports, nearly four every day, and 53 children were confirmed victims. Among confirmed incidents, one in three involved physical injury and nearly one in three involved sexual abuse. Statewide, there were 60 child abuse fatalities in 2024, a stark measure of harm.[17] These facts demand prevention, swift protective action, and trauma-responsive services that keep children safe and stable.
Children experience violence in their communities and, too often, within systems that are supposed to protect them. In recent years, Delaware County has seen institutional abuse tied to weak oversight. Fixing institutional safety requires a strong state response. Governor Josh Shapiro directed DHS Secretary Val Arkoosh to lead a comprehensive effort to improve child welfare, yet the intergovernmental workgroup has operated with limited transparency. Early recommendations remain invisible to the very public the system is meant to serve.
These priorities aren’t just policy ideas, but they’re about giving our children a fighting chance at wellbeing, belonging, and hope. But we cannot do this alone. With federal appropriations determining how hundreds of billions of dollars flow to states through grants and block grants, and with federal dollars being the second largest source of funding for state governments, we must ensure Delaware County’s needs are represented. States distribute these federal funds based on statutory formulas that consider factors like population, poverty, and housing conditions, making it crucial that Delco residents advocate for our community’s specific challenges to be prioritized in state allocation decisions. So, Delco, we’re asking: will you stand with us? Let’s build a county where every child, regardless of background, income, or ability, has the support they need to thrive.
Join us at our next Action Team meeting to learn how you can make a difference.
[1] Delaware County Health Department, Delaware County Community Status Assessment, March 2024, 25, https://www.delcopa.gov/sites/default/files/2025-02/CHAReport.pdf ; https://www.cdc.gov/oral-health/data-research/facts-stats/index.html
[2] DELCO Today, “3 Delco Towns Got On a List for Worst Worker Commute in PA,” April 30, 2025, https://delco.today/2025/04/3-delco-towns-worst-pa-commute
[3] CBS Philadelphia, “Crozer-Chester Medical Center closes, marking end of Delaware County’s largest hospital system,” May 2, 2025, https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/crozer-chester-medical-center-closed-prospect
[4] Delaware County Health Department, Delaware County Community Health Assessment 2024–2028, March 2024, 35,https://www.delcopa.gov/sites/default/files/2025-02/CHAReport.pdf ; https://www.cdc.gov/oral-health/data-research/facts-stats/index.html
[5] https://www.aoa.org/news/clinical-eye-care/public-health/keeping-childrens-vision-in-focus
[6] Children First, A Decade of Stalled Progress: Delaware County, Feb. 21, 2025,31, https://www.childrenfirstpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Delaware-County-2025-FINAL.pdf
[7] Children First, A Decade of Stalled Progress: Delaware County, Feb. 21, 2025, https://www.childrenfirstpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Delaware-County-2025-FINAL.pdf
[8] Children First, A Decade of Stalled Progress: Delaware County, February 21, 2025, 6, https://www.childrenfirstpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Delaware-County-2025-FINAL.pdf
[9] HopePHL, School District and County Counts of Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness in Pennsylvania: Part 4: Children Cannot Wait, March 2025, 29, https://www.hopephl.org/uploads/2/9/3/9/29391481/pa_ecyeh_by_lea_report_fy2021_to_2023-2025-03-24.pdf
[10] Delaware County, “Delaware County Housing Coalition Presents Update on Housing in Delaware County,” January 25, 2024, https://delcopa.gov/news/delaware-county-housing-coalition-presents-update-housing-delaware-county
[11] U.S. Census Bureau, “QuickFacts: Delaware County, Pennsylvania” — Median household income $88,576 (2019–2023).
[12] U.S. Census Bureau, “QuickFacts: Chester city, Pennsylvania” — Median household income $39,809 (2019–2023).
[13] U.S. Census Bureau, “QuickFacts: Darby borough, Pennsylvania” — Median household income $45,128 (2019–2023).
[14] Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania, After the Pause: Delaware County (2023–24), https://housingalliancepa.org/wp-content/uploads/Delaware.pdf
[15] Census Reporter, “Delaware County, PA,” ACS 2019–2023, language other than English at home = 13.7%, https://censusreporter.org/profiles/05000US42045-delaware-county-pa
[16] Children First, A Decade of Stalled Progress: Delaware County, February 21, 2025, 5, https://www.childrenfirstpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Delaware-County-2025-FINAL.pdf
[17] Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, Child Protective Services 2024 Annual Report, August 2025, 9,10,11, https://www.pa.gov/content/dam/copapwp-pagov/en/dhs/documents/docs/ocyf/documents/2024-annual-child-abuse-report-final.pdf