BELLEFONTE — At a brief Centre County Commissioners meeting this week, the board renewed a series of foster care and residential service contracts for Children and Youth Services.

The routine contracts were the only substantive item on the agenda at a sleepy summer meeting for the county’s top elected officials.

Tara Peters of Centre County CYS presented five contracts totaling $55,000 to the board for inclusion on next week’s consent agenda.

The first two renewals were for contracts with the nonprofit Children’s Home of Pittsburgh for generalized foster care services.

Each contract is valued at $15,000, with $12,000 funded by the state and $3,000 by the county.

The first runs from June 2, 2026, to June 30, 2027, and the second from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027. Peters said not all of the first contract’s funds may be used, as the amount reflects a standard-length contract even though the agreement covers a shorter period.

The following three contracts with Cornell Abraxas Group, LLC; Delaware County Emergency Youth Academy; and Pentz Run Youth Services, Inc. renew foster care and residential services for dependent and delinquent youth.

The contract with Cornell Abraxas, a private contractor that operates youth residential treatment facilities across Pennsylvania, continues county funding for services involving court-referred juvenile offenders despite a recent state licensing action taken against the company. In November 2025, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services notified Cornell Abraxas that it had revoked the secure detention license for the company’s Abraxas Academy facility in Berks County over findings of gross incompetence, negligence and misconduct. The company remains permitted by the state to provide care for youth at its other licensed facilities and Abraxas Academy during the appeal process.

The contract total is $125,000, with $100,000 funded by the state and $25,000 by Centre County. It runs from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027.

The county’s contract with the Delaware County Emergency Youth Academy, which also spans July 1 to June 30 next year, totals $85,000, with $68,000 funded by the state and $17,000 by the county.

The final contract, with Pentz Run Youth Services, Inc., totals $35,000, with $28,000 funded by the state and $7,000 by the county. It runs from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027.

In other business, the commissioners also announced that Centre County government offices will be closed Friday, July 3, 2026, in observance of Independence Day.