Sweeping Legislation In Honor Of Grace Packer Aims To Protect PA Children

HARRISBURG, PA — New legislation in honor of Grace Packer, the 14-year-old Montgomery County girl murdered by her adoptive mother, aims to provide additional protections for Pennsylvania children in the foster system.

State lawmakers say that administrative failures and insufficient record keeping put Grace at risk, and could put other children at risk too.

"While a State Inspector General investigation regarding the failures of our child welfare system in this case is ongoing, Grace’s murder highlighted numerous gaps in our Child Protective Services Law (CPSL) and the systems by which we track reports of child abuse," State Rep. Craig Staats (R-Bucks) wrote in a co-sponsorship memorandum for his bill.

Specifically, Staats plans on reintroducing language in his new legislation that was contained in a trio of bills formerly under consideration: House Bills 1843, 1844, and 1845. One would mandate the establishment of a statewide child abuse database to be brought online by the end of 2023. Another would extend the time records are retained to 30 years, and remove the provision that allows minors who abuse others to have their records expunged by the age of 23.

The third would specifically define two terms used in the CPSL: "valid," and "invalid reports." Lack of clarity around those terms can further confuse and delay protections for children in the system.

The legislation comes years after investigations through the Office of the Inspector General were launched into how the state handled Grace's case.

When she was 3, Grace's birth parents reportedly lost custody because other adults were sexually abusing Grace. Grace was adopted by Sara Packer, a county adoption worker, and her husband David. When she was 9, David Packer was sent to prison for sexually abusing her. He was later classified as a sexually violent predator, according to the Megan's Law Database states.

Blame has long lingered on the state. "The system victimized an already victimized little girl," State Rep. Rob Kauffman said back in 2019.

Sara Packer worked for a private agency called the Impact Project that was licensed by the DHS. While there, she was the foster mother of some 20 children. She also served as an adoption worker in Northampton County from 2003 to 2010, when she was fired over allegations of misconduct, the Morning Call reported.

Grace was killed on July 8, 2016 at a residence in Richland Township, Bucks County. Jacob Sullivan, Sara Packer's boyfriend, told investigators Grace's death was something he and Packer plotted in late 2015. He told police he and Packer drove Grace from their residence in Abington to a new home in Richland Township.

After they entered the house, Sullivan told investigators he struck Grace several times in her face, splitting her lip, authorities said. The two adults then took the teen to the third floor of the residence, where Sara Packer watched as Sullivan raped her daughter, prosecutors said.

Sara Packer then allegedly left to buy Tylenol PM and other drugs to sedate her daughter. The adults then gave her an overdose of pills, bound and gagged her, and left her to die in the hot attic, prosecutors said.

When the pair returned the next day and Grace was still alive, prosecutors said Sullivan strangled and suffocated her, dismembered her body, and packed her in cat litter to mask the odor and left it in the attic for three months.

Three days after the killing, Sara Packer filed a missing person report with Abington Township Police, saying that her daughter had disappeared and likely had run away.

Authorities said that Sara Packer then allegedly withheld critical information and gave misleading statements to investigators working to find the teen, resulting in an arrest on charges of endangering the welfare of a child and obstructing the administration of law.

Two weeks before Grace's body was found with its arms and legs removed, Packer was captured on video buying a bow saw and two extra blades at a tractor supply store in Richland Township, the probable cause affidavit said.

A forensic anthropologist who examined the teen's body determined that the scarring and tool marks on her bones were made by an alternating tooth saw blade similar to that of the bow saw, authorities said.

Her body was eventually dumped in Luzerne County where it was discovered months later by hunters.

Legislation similar to the current proposed package was introduced in 2021 but did not progress into law.