Two drug offenders worked in recent years at group homes for abused and neglected children in Allegheny County.

Pennsylvania lawmakers have decided that people who want to work in such homes will be disqualified only if they've been convicted of certain felonies, such as murder and rape, or of a couple of misdemeanors, such as stalking, but not if they have pleaded to misdemeanor drug offenses.

Pennsylvania even permits those paid to care for abused children to be child abusers as long as the state Department of Public Welfare had made the child abuse determination more than five years before the person was hired.

Carmen Gaines, of East Liberty, whose son was punched by a group home worker during a restraint, couldn't believe drug offenders could work with children. "Why would you consider a person with those type of charges?"

A review of records suggests that workers who have committed misdemeanors such as drunken driving and disorderly conduct are more likely to end up in trouble at group homes for children than those with clean criminal backgrounds.

For example, both drug offenders were criminally charged with injuring children at their group homes, one for hurting a boy in a restraint, the other for sexually assaulting a girl.

Both were acquitted of those charges, but the state Department of Public Welfare believed that the worker assaulted the girl and another girl, whose case did not go to court, and Three Rivers Youth fired the worker immediately.

The other worker, who pleaded guilty to possessing heroin in 2000 but who the DPW believed committed no wrongdoing in the 2003 restraint, remained on the job at an Auberle facility until recently.

Another example is Pressley Ridge worker Aaron Paull, of Uniontown. His conviction in September 2003 on two counts of misdemeanor disorderly conduct meant he was still eligible to work for the Pressley Ridge wilderness camp at Ohiopyle, Fayette County. There, in February, police say, he broke both arms of a 14-year-old boy in a restraint. He faces felony aggravated assault charges in that case.

If Pressley Ridge had looked at the court records for Paull's earlier conviction and the protection from abuse order against him, it would have found that he was originally charged with unlawful restraint and simple assault of a former girlfriend. She says in her PFA petition that Paull entered her apartment when he was drunk, threatened her and her roommate, then threw her over his shoulder and forced her into his truck.

But Pressley Ridge isn't required to review those records. And the institution's director wouldn't discuss the incident, for which it is being sued, so it's unclear whether it did the research.

Similar detailed public records are available regarding the drug offenses of the former Three Rivers and Auberle workers.

Both offenses, one for possession of heroin, the other for possession of marijuana, were misdemeanors, so the state permitted the men to work with children.

Peggy Harris, director of Three Rivers Youth, said she would never again hire a person like the drug offender.

"It is a decision that we obviously regret," she said. "We have become stronger as the result of this incident and are fortunate to have a nice pool of candidates, and are not desperate to make choices that we would later regret."

She said Three Rivers' standards now are higher than the state's: "We recognize that the state sets the bar somewhat low on who should and should not be considered for hire."

-- Barbara White Stack