The city of Philadelphia announced Friday that it will stop billing parents for the cost of their children’s incarceration, just hours after a front-page Marshall Project story in The Washington Post highlighted the practice in the city and across the nation.
Heather Keafer, a spokeswoman for the Philadelphia Department of Human Services, said the decision to stop charging parents will go into effect immediately. The agency already said late Thursday it plans to end its contract with Steve Kaplan, a private attorney who since 1998 has been collecting from parents on behalf of Philadelphia — earning up to $316,000 a year in salary and bonuses, more than any city employee. His contract will end March 31.
“Our priority is to reunify families safely and quickly, and this decision is a great move forward toward that goal,” DHS Commissioner Cynthia Figueroa said in a statement.
Philadelphia announced its decision just before a City Council hearing on the detention fees, which was scheduled for Friday afternoon. Read more.
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