Office of Children, Youth & Families Headquarters

Information on Services

The Bureau of Children and Family Services (BCFS) is primarily responsible for monitoring the delivery of services by county and private children and youth social service agencies, including foster care agencies, adoption agencies, and supervised independent living facilities throughout the commonwealth. Oversight of these programs is conducted by the four OCYF Regional Offices.
Essential functions and responsibilities of the regional offices:
- Monitoring, licensing and providing technical assistance to the public and private children and youth social service agencies;
- Investigating child abuse when the alleged perpetrator is a county agency employee or one of its agents;
- Ensuring regulatory compliance of agencies by investigating complaints and conducting annual inspections;
- Assisting county and private agencies in the interpretation and implementation of DPW regulations;
- Conducting reviews of all Child Fatalities and Near Fatalities as a result of suspected child abuse that occur within the Commonwealth;
- Providing recommended levels of funding for CCYAs as a result of programmatic analysis of the county's Needs Based Plan and Budget Submission;
- Provide State Leadership in the Quality Service Reviews of county agencies;
- Responding to inquiries and providing information to families, providers, stakeholders and the general public regarding the statutes, regulations and DPW requirements and processes for operating a public or private children and youth agency, foster care agency or adoption agency;
- Inspecting and monitoring regulated agencies for continual compliance;
- Providing technical assistance and consultation to agencies;
- Conducting complaint investigations to determine validity of allegations, and performing follow-up as needed;
- Reviewing applications for new agencies from prospective providers;
- Preparing detailed reports of survey findings, recommendations for licensure status, and enforcement actions; and
- Providing information regarding the certification or licensing history of an agency.