Because Family Care for Children and
Youth, Inc. is a SWAN Affiliate (Statewide Adoption and
Permanency Network), these services are performed at no
cost for resource families interested in adopting a
Pennsylvania youth that is currently a client in the
child welfare system. As a fully licensed adoption
program, services are also available for
children/families who are not a client or a resource
family in the child welfare system for a fee.
Applicants for adoption services must
be 21 years or older and meet other specified
requirements. Training is provided by Family Care
for Children and Youth, Inc. for all prospective
adoptive families.
If you are interested, please
telephone (570) 522-9790 or e-mail the agency at
fccy@fccy.org.
FAMILY
PROFILES
The purpose of the Family Profile process is to
identify and develop resource families for children in
the foster care system. The entire process is
designed to determine the suitability of an applicant to
be an adoptive parent based on the applicant's
qualifications and the readiness of the applicant to
parent a specific child based on the child's individual
needs.
Family Care for Children and Youth will perform
authorized Family Profile services for existing resource
parents in our system, or for families that are
recruited for a specific adoptive placement. The
Family Profile unit of service entails the following
tasks:
- Pre-adoptive family
orientation.
- Training completion
on issues relevant to special needs adoption.
- Completion of the
Family Profile.
- Pre-adoption
continuing education in order to keep families
interested in adoption pending a placement.
- Registration with
PAE (Pennsylvania Adoption Exchange).
- Completion of an
addendum during the first and/or second year
following the completion of the Family Profile in cases where a
child is not place with a pre-adoptive family.
- A county agency may
request a family profile addendum when a family is
being considered for a child placement or when
necessary for a court proceeding.
- Annual foster care
approval.
CHILD PROFILE
A Child Profile is a comprehensive review of a
child's emotional, social and medical history. The
process of developing a profile is to be a collaborative
effort involving the child and all of the significant
people involved in his/her life. The information gathered in a Child Profile is
confidential and is only to be shared between
appropriate agencies and with the prospective eligible
families. Each child with a goal of adoption must
have a Child Profile. According to the SWAN
Bulletin, the intended purposes of the Child Profile are
to:
- Assist in recruitment activities and identifying
possible matches for placement to occur;
- Share information with prospective families who
are being considered to provide permanency for the
child. This profile is not considered to be
the sole source of information on the child.
- Identify strengths and possible risk factors
that might be useful in the placement adjustment
period and enhancing permanency; and
- Maintain a history as described below for the
child as a resource of information for his/her later
life.
Family Care for Children and Youth, Inc. will perform
authorized Child Profile services for existing youth in
our system, or for youth that are in placement with
another entity. The Child Profile unit of service
entails the following tasks:
- Completion of the Child Profile document.
- The custodial county Children and Youth must
register the child with the Pennsylvania Adoption
Exchange (PAE). The Family Care for Children
and Youth Case Manager will
collaborate with the custodial county Case Worker to
ensure the youth is registered on other exchanges
provided by PAE.
- A high quality color photograph of the child
(where the child's facial features are distinct and
apparent) will be taken and a one-page written
description of the child will be completed.
- Completion of an addendum upon request by a
county agency during the first and/or second year
following the completion of the original Child
Profile in cases where the child is not placed with
a family (i.e. the Child Profile may be used for a
maximum of three years, which may include two
addendums).
- The custodial county Children and Youth may
request an additional child profile unit of service
only in cases where the child has not been placed
for adoption within three years.
CHILD PREPARATION FOR
PERMANENCY
It is understood that children in out-of-home
placement have experienced varying degrees of trauma in
their young lives. It is essential that adoption
professionals maximize the child's readiness for
permanency and prevent permanency disruption by
facilitating the transition from out-of-home placement
to a permanent family.
The goals of Child Preparation are the following:
- To enable the child to understand the reasons
for being unable to return to the birth or legal
family (clarification), accept the reality of being
a member of several families (integration), and
visualize him/herself becoming a member of another
family (actualization).
- To ensure that children have the opportunity to
resolve losses, through a process of grieving in a
safe atmosphere, to ask questions, and to feel
positively about a prospective family (attachment).
- To help children establish a more secure
foundation for identity formulation by maintaining
their biological and placement history.
FINALIZATION
Adoption finalization includes all services provided
to the child, the pre-adoptive family and the county
agency with custody of the child prior to the issuance
of a decree of adoption by the court. Finalization
services begin at the point of placement and include the
subsequent supervisory period and reports and may
include, but are not limited to, supportive services,
home visits, supervisory reports, and the work done with
attorneys and courts to facilitate the adoption in a
timely manner. Research has shown that adequate
post-placement supervision is essential for families to
keep moving forward to finalization.
This unit of service requires the following
activities:
- A minimum of three
supervisory reports;
- Filing of the
adoption intent, petition and actual finalization;
and
- Review of the
adoption assistance agreement including, but not
limited to, the necessary post-permanency services
to support the child and the family to enhance
permanency.
CHILD-SPECIFIC
RECRUITMENT (CSR)
Children who have no pre-adoptive family identified
for them can be considered for Child Specific
Recruitment (CSR) activities. CSR includes, but is
not limited to, all planned activities used to identify
a pre-adoptive family who is interested in a specific
child. County agencies may make a referral to this
program ONLY after PAE registration, routine recruitment
activities and other contacts have been completed.
This unit of service requires the following
activities:
- Registration with
PAE on the CY-130, which automatically includes
registrations with other exchanges including, but
not limited to, The Collaboration to AdoptUSKids,
www.adoptuskids.org, and Three Rivers Adoption
Council, photo listing books and websites;
- Development of a
written CSR plan identifying activities and
expectations;
- Preparation of the
child for recruitment activities, including
appearing on the website and working with the media;
- Children without
families shall appear on
www.adoptpakids.org; and
- Pursuance of other
media opportunities.
