PA Juvenile Abuse
“Held as children. Failed by the system. Heard now.”
Children sent to Pennsylvania's juvenile facilities were supposed to be protected. Too many were abused — and the institutions that enabled it are being held to account.
Juvenile detention, youth residential & treatment facilities, group homes
Institutional negligence — hiring, supervision, cover-ups
PA law allows many survivors to file until age 55
Glen Mills, Abraxas/GEO, Devereux, UHS, Acadia, county centers
What this litigation is about
These cases are brought on behalf of people sexually abused as children while held in Pennsylvania juvenile detention centers, youth residential and treatment facilities, and group homes — by staff, counselors, guards, or other residents — where the operating institution failed to protect them. A 2024 U.S. Senate investigation documented systemic, taxpayer-funded abuse across youth facilities nationwide, and Pennsylvania’s own Glen Mills Schools — once the country’s oldest reform school — was shut down in 2019 amid an abuse scandal.
Who may have a claim
Survivors who were abused as minors in a Pennsylvania juvenile-justice or youth-residential facility. Timing is the gating question. Pennsylvania’s 2019 reform (Act 87) extended the civil deadline so that many survivors abused as minors may now bring claims until age 55 — a dramatic expansion over the old, restrictive limits.
Because Pennsylvania has not enacted a retroactive ‘lookback window’ like New York or California, eligibility turns on each survivor’s age and the date of the abuse. We evaluate that for you, confidentially and at no cost — an honest, accurate reading of your rights is the first thing we owe you.
The legal theory
Institutional negligence — negligent hiring, training, supervision, and retention; failure to screen staff or investigate complaints; cover-ups and retaliation; and the heightened custodial duty owed to detained minors — brought alongside direct claims against the abusers. Many of these facilities are run by large private operators such as GEO Group, Universal Health Services, Acadia, and Devereux — deep-pocketed institutional defendants.
Why survivors choose Stinar Lannen
This is the work our firm was built on. Our attorneys have helped secure more than $1.5 billion in global sexual-abuse settlements and represent thousands of survivors of institutional abuse. We handle these matters with a trauma-informed approach and on a contingency basis — you owe nothing unless we recover for you.
Talk to the lawyers who actually try these cases.
Free, confidential case review. If we take your case, you pay nothing unless we win. Our attorneys — not a call center — evaluate every claim.