Pennsylvania program
The state's special-needs referral line (Special Kids Network)
A free Pennsylvania Department of Health line that helps families find local services for children with special health care needs.
What it is
A free Pennsylvania Department of Health line that helps families find local services for children with special health care needs.
Special Kids Network helps families find services for children through age 21. You can describe the help you need without knowing a program name. A referral does not establish eligibility or approval for the programs discussed.
Eligibility rules
- The service is for Pennsylvania children from birth through age 21 with special health care needs.
- There is no published income cutoff or insurance requirement for the referral line.
What you get
- Free help finding local services and support.
- A next-business-day response to an after-hours voicemail or email.
- Connections for physical, developmental, behavioral or emotional needs.
What the help includes
- Department of Health staff connect families with county services and other supports. A referral is not approval for the separate program.
- Community to Home is one possible connection in its covered counties, with its own income and other rules.
If you decide to apply
- Call Special Kids Network at 1-800-986-4550, or email RA-DHBFHSKN@pa.gov.
- Have your child's age, county and diagnosis ready, along with the help you are trying to find.
1-800-986-4550 · Official page ↗
After you ask
- The published next-business-day response applies to after-hours voicemail and email. The referral team can discuss local services, but cannot guarantee approval or a complete list during the first conversation.
- There is no cash award or treatment-coverage decision from this line.
Good to know
This is a referral service. It does not pay for cancer treatment or travel.
Other details
- Pennsylvania's Title V referral service does not have a published cancer-treatment payment benefit.
- The help can be useful even when your child already has insurance or your household is above benefit income limits.
Official sources
“Could Special Kids Network help us find support near home? Which needs should we describe so we reach the right local people?”
Why I’m asking: I need help finding local services without making a separate search for every problem.
More background and detailed requirements
Additional program information and published rules
Who does what
The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.
You
Call or email with the child's age, county and diagnosis and ask what county programs apply.
Your social worker
The social worker adds the referral to the discharge plan.
The care team
Records and letters when the application asks for them.
- Who decides
- Department of Health staff route the call; there is no decision to make.
- Ask the agency
- “My child was diagnosed with leukemia in [month]. Which programs in [county] apply to us, and is Community to Home available where we live?”
How to apply
First step: Call 1-800-986-4550 or email RA-DHBFHSKN@pa.gov.
- Call 1-800-986-4550 or email RA-DHBFHSKN@pa.gov with the child's age, county and diagnosis.
Official application / program page ↗
Where it starts: Call or email.
What to gather
- Child's age, county and diagnosis
How long: After-hours voicemail or email messages receive a next-business-day response under the published service description; this is not a service-approval deadline.
What a yes looks like
A list of local programs and contacts.
What a no looks like, and the next move
Not applicable; it is a referral line.
Watch out
- It pays nothing. Pennsylvania's Title V program (the federal children's health block grant) publishes no cancer diagnosis list and pays for no treatment.
The numbers and the rules
The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 9, 2026.
What it is worth
Free referral and resource connection for a child with special health care needs, birth through 21; Next-business-day response to after-hours voicemail or email.
Covers: Connection to local services and supports · Next-business-day response to after-hours voicemail or email
What it costs the family: None.
The eligibility facts, as published
- Age
- birth through age 21
- Needs
- physical, developmental, behavioral or emotional needs
- Income
- no published cutoff
- Insurance
- no published condition
The trap: Expecting money. The Special Kids Network is navigation. Pennsylvania's Title V program publishes no cancer diagnosis list, no income limit and no treatment or travel payment.
Where I read this
- DOH — Special Kids Network — Pennsylvania Department of Health, read September 8, 2026
- DOH Title V (Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant) — Pennsylvania Department of Health, read September 8, 2026