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Between 13,000 and 15,000 children are currently in Pennsylvania’s foster care system at any given time, many of whom live in Philadelphia.

Even though a report released earlier this year by the city’s Department of Human Services showed nearly all foster care provider agencies received “optimal” ratings, some city officials say the system can still be improved. They say changes need to be made to better support young people who age out of the system.

“That’s one of our biggest priorities,” Councilmember Nina Ahmad said. “To make sure they’re not housing insecure, make sure they’re ready for job training, making sure that they have that bridge, and I think there’s work that’s underway to look at that.”

A report released by the city in January found that there was a 13% decline in the number of children who’ve been placed in dependent care in 2024 compared to 2023, from 3,333 children in June 2023 to 2,891 children in June 2024.

Dependent care includes both traditional foster care and what’s known as kinship care, when a relative or others who are considered family provide full-time care.

According to numbers from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, 43% of Pennsylvania’s foster youth remain in the system until they age out. That also has Ahmad concerned.

She’s hopeful Mayor Cherelle Parker’s Housing Opportunities Made Easy, or H.O.M.E., initiative could help those young people get into securing housing as they age out of foster care. The H.O.M.E. initiative is a comprehensive strategy to create and preserve 30,000 units of housing over four years using $800 million in bonds.

“One of the things I want to amend in the H.O.M.E. bill is to actually have a set aside of resources specifically for housing and security for both families in the child welfare system and children aging out of foster care. I just want to codify it so it’s clear and there’s no ambiguity about it,” she said.

Councilmember Cindy Bass summed up the city’s foster care system in one word: trouble.

“I don’t think that we’re doing nearly enough for foster youth in our city. There’s so much more that can be done,” Bass said. “There are endless stories where people have had interactions with DHS. And those interactions have been troubling, and in some places just neglectful.”