The House Children and Youth Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved two bipartisan measures designed to reform child welfare and strengthen protections for parental rights.

“While many states provide an opportunity to reinstate the parent-child relationship under specific conditions, in PA, termination is permanent,” said Rep. Rick Krajewski, D-Philadelphia, the primary sponsor of both bills. “The loss of the parent-child relationship is a punishment that lasts a lifetime. We must be more compassionate, promote second chances and ensure that children are not left needlessly languishing in county care.”

House Bill 133 allows Pennsylvania courts to restore parental rights in certain cases when a parent has successfully rehabilitated and a child has not been adopted, giving families a second chance.

“The bottom line here is that we’re both working for the best interest of the child,” state Rep. Sheryl Delozier, R-Cumberland, the co-sponsor of the bill, said during the meeting. “People do deserve second chances, and for parents who have done the work … there’s no better tie than the parent-child bond. Rather than leaving a child in the system, which we all know needs improvement, the best place for a child is with their families, if possible.”

Under federal law, when a child has been in state custody for more than 15 months, the Department of Human Services is required to petition for the involuntary termination of parental rights. Many states provide the opportunity to reinstate the parent-child relationship under specific conditions, but in Pennsylvania, termination is permanent, according to the bill’s memo.

HB 133 would allow officials and advocates to consider rehabilitation efforts when a parent seeks reinstatement of their parental rights. Rehabilitation efforts may include building a career, finding stable housing, substance use disorder recovery or ending a period of incarceration, according to the bill’s memo.

House Bill 138 also protects the rights of incarcerated parents by ensuring incarceration alone cannot be used to terminate parental rights. It requires courts to consider a parent’s efforts to stay involved in their child’s life while incarcerated too.

More than 65,000 Pennsylvania children have an incarcerated parent in a state prison or jail, according to recent state Department of Corrections data. Almost 2 million children nationally have an incarcerated parent, over 60% of women held in prisons and jails have a minor child and Black children are 7.5 times more likely than white children to have an incarcerated parent, according to a 2011 Joint State Commission report referenced in the bill’s memo.

“As someone with a stepfather who was incarcerated, I understand firsthand how this experience can affect a family,” Krajewski wrote in the bill’s memo. “The uncertainty of when you will see them again, the emotional impact on loved ones, the financial setbacks to a family and the damage done through the unnecessary severance of a child’s connection to their parent are all hardships no one should face yet so many in our Commonwealth suffer through daily.”

Both bills received full support from the committee on Tuesday, and have now moved to the Rules Committee, where they are pending further action.