FAMILY SOCIAL SERVICE
The child profile provides a comprehensive summary of the child’s life history, current functioning, and special needs. It can be used for all children and older youth regardless of their permanency goal. The child profile assists in making decisions about the selection of a resource family and provides a history the child may review with their resource, kinship, custodial or adoptive family when they reach the age of majority.
The family profile documents and assesses the learning, development, and strengths of resource families providing permanency to children, including kinship, Permanent Legal Custodianship (PLC), and adoptive families. It is a best practice format that provides a more consistent presentation to simplify the review and selection of a family. Components of the family profile are orientation, family preparation (training), pre-placement continuing education to keep families supported through the process, annual updates, professional support, and matching referrals.
This service is available to any child in the custody of children and youth. Child preparation is the intense preparation designed to assist children in making the transition from foster care to the permanency option (reunification, kinship, PLC, or adoption) selected for them. It includes the development of a written plan outlining the preparation activities conducted through a minimum of 10 meetings with the child over a six-month period of time.
Finalization prepares a child and family for life after adoption; how the child welfare system works from adoption onwards, and what it means for an adoptive family to talk to their newest family member about the adoption process. This unit applies to children or older youth who are in either a foster to adopt or adoption situation. Supportive services, reports, and home visits, as well as work with attorneys and courts may be included in the finalization.
The Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network (SWAN) offers Post-Permanency Services (often referred to as post-adoption services) to Pennsylvania families to ensure that families are provided the support they need for the long term to encourage a positive life-long experience for both adoption and foster care programs in Pennsylvania. Services are offered to all families who have adopted, whether or not they adopted a child from the child welfare system; and to kinship and permanent legal custodianship families who provide permanency to a foster child.
Ensures that families receive access to services designed to meet their needs after they have made a permanent commitment to a child. The Case Advocacy unit of service may be as intensive as necessary in order to keep the family intact and prevent disruption of the adoption. With an emphasis on collaboration, the SWAN affiliate agency advocates on behalf of the family to ensure ongoing permanency in families. The agency will help the family to identify strengths and needs, establish a family support plan, coordinate services to meet the family’s needs, and facilitate collaboration between various service programs.
Helps build relationships, forms a community of mentoring, provides education and offers socialization and recreational activities for families and/or their children. Support groups provide families with the opportunity to share with others the difficulties and successes of adoption or providing permanency to a child. Information on a variety of support groups is offered for both the adoptive parents and the adopted children. This service is designed to ensure that families are supported by providing relevant information to families and utilizing professional and paraprofessionals for group leadership and childcare.
Provides families with planned breaks to support a consistent level of parenting. Respite may provide a time for the family to get some needed time alone and then return to caring for their child rejuvenated and revived. Respite may be either inside or outside the family home. This service is designed to ensure that eligible families are supported by developing resources to alleviate the pressures of parenting children with special needs. The service focuses on utilizing competent resources to provide a continuum of care while offering flexibility to ensure the needs of parents and children are met.
Families self-refer for SWAN Post-Permanency Services by calling the SWAN Helpline at 1-800-585-7926 as this is a voluntary service that the family must request.
Upon your call, the Helpline personnel ask questions, gather information from the family, and then explain the process for a family to receive the services. The family is provided with the contact information of affiliates who offer the services they select. When an affiliate is chosen by the family, the referral is made and the assessment process begins.
Resources – PA Adoption Exchange: www.adoptpakids.org
U.S. Adoption Exchange: www.adoptuskids.org
Post Adoption Services provide continued support if necessary to adoptive parents. Concilio’s goal is for children to remain in the safe and loving home provided when parents adopt. To sustain adoption, services after the adoption are sometimes necessary. Concilio offers advocacy, support groups, and respite services free to any adoptive family in need at any time in the youth’s life.
Children are a very important component at Concilio. We need your help so we can help children during the difficult times.
By donating to this program, you will be participating and be a part of the solution.
