Adoption
Family Care Services is a licensed adoption agency in Pennsylvania and an affiliate of the Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network (SWAN).
We provide foster care adoption services, SWAN permanency services for children in foster care, family home studies for private adoptions, SWAN post permanency services, and adoption searches.
Adoption and Permanency
- There are approximately 400,000 children in foster care in the United States. About 120,000 are waiting to be adopted.
- About 20,000 youth age out of foster care annually without a permanent family.
- The median age of children available to be adopted from foster care is 8 years old.
- Adopting from foster care involves little or no expense to the foster family.
Statistics from: AdoptUSKids, Adoption Exchange Association.
Foster Care Adoption
Adoption from foster care is an appropriate permanency route for families whose goal is to support the best interests of children who are separated from their parents and are also willing to be a permanent family for children unable to return to their parents. Children in foster care who are unable to return home and have no other family able to care for them need people willing to step up as their forever family without having to move from home to home while waiting. Check out the FAQ section to explore foster care adoption in greater detail.
Anyone pursuing adoption through foster care at Family Care Services must be also licensed a foster parent as well as an adoptive parent. Check out our information on foster care to learn more about being a foster parent.
Qualifications of Adoptive Parents
- 21 years of age or older
- Ability to pass child abuse and background checks
- Healthy enough to parent
- Financially stable
- Mentally and emotionally stable
- Safe home and bedroom for a child (per home safety evaluation)
- Ability to meet other agency requirements for completing a home study
How can I get started?
- Do a little research – Adopting from foster care can be a challenging journey if your primary goal is to grow your family. Spend some time reading about the pros and cons of different types of adoption. There is a lot of helpful information online that can help you assess if you’re ready for foster care adoption.
- Attend an information session – Family Care Services offers an info session about every two months. It is a great way to learn specifically about how our agency’s foster care adoption program is designed. You’ll learn about the children we work with, how they are placed, ongoing expectations, and the application and approval process. You can have your questions answered and hear the answers to others’ questions that you might not have thought of yet. If you’re unable to make one of our scheduled sessions, we can schedule an individual meeting with you. Contact us to be invited to the next info session.
- Request an application – If you’ve already attended an info session or already have past related experience and/or otherwise feel ready to begin the process, contact us for an application! Your application will be reviewed and determination will be made about continuing in the home study and training process.
PRIVATE FAMILY HOME STUDIES
Do you already have a child identified that you plan to adopt but need a home study to submit to your attorney or to the court? We can help with that! The process of our private home studies is similar to our other home studies with some differences in the required training. We provide a payment plan, and the completed home study belongs to you. Contact us for more information and pricing.
POST-PERMANENCY SERVICES
If you have already adopted, are providing legal kinship care, or are a legal custodian of a child, you are eligible to receive Post-Permanency services. These services are to help families preserve healthy functioning and relationships or to help obtain services to benefit any member of the family. Case Management/Advocacy, Respite, and Support Group are available through SWAN and can be provided by FCS. Requests for Post-Permanency services need to be made directly through SWAN by calling 1-800-585-SWAN (7926).
Adoption Searches
- Looking for your birth parents or information about your past, prior to your adoption?
- Trying to locate a child who was adopted?
- Want to track down a long-lost sibling?
If your adoption was facilitated by FCS, we can definitely help! If your adoption was facilitated elsewhere or you don’t know where it was facilitated, we can help with that, too!
- We can provide adoption search services on behalf of the following individuals:
- An adoptee at least 18 years of age
- An adoptive parent of an adoptee who is under 18, who is adjudicated incapacitated and is 18 or older, or who is deceased
- A legal guardian of adoptee who is under 18 or adjudicated incapacitated
- A descendant of deceased adoptee
- A birth parent of adoptee 21 years of age or older
- A parent or birth parent of adoptee 21 or older if birth parent consents, is incapacitated, or deceased
- A birth sibling of an adoptee if both are 21 or older and meet at least one of the following criteria:
- The birth sibling remained in the custody of a birth parent and that birth parent consents, is deceased, or is incapacitated
- The birth sibling and the adoptee were both adopted out of the same birth family
- The birth sibling was not adopted out of the birth family and did not remain in custody of birth parent
Contact FCS for additional information about the search process.
If you’re uncertain about which agency facilitated your adoption, a good first step is to contact the court in the county where the adoption was facilitated. Both the court and the facilitating agency are able to assist in a search. If you are unsure of the county, contact the PA Department of Vital Records, as new birth certificates are issued following an adoption, and they can provide the county where the adoption occurred. Some information may also be available through the Pennsylvania Adoption Information Registry (PAIR).
As you begin the search process, there are some helpful questions to consider:
- How long have you been thinking about searching?
- What brought you to this point of making the decision to search? Curiosity? A feeling of incompleteness? A crisis?
- What are you looking for? Medical information? Family history? Connections?
- What information do you already know?
- What will the information mean to you?
- How will the information impact you?
- How might what you discover impact your relationships?
- How are you going to use the information?
- What if no information is found?
- Who have you talked with about this?
- Who will support you on your search?
- What if the outcome is not what you’re hoping for?
To talk with someone about any of our adoption and permanency services, contact Andrea Adams at aadams@familycareservices.org or call 717-263-2285 x209.
FAQ
How long does it take to get approved?
It depends. If a family is quick to complete and gather all the paperwork and complete their independent training, an approval can be done in as little as one to two months. We try to work on approvals at your pace. Some families take four or more months to get approved, and that’s okay, too.
Is it expensive to adopt from foster care?
No. While private and international adoption home studies are funded by the family, home studies for families who adopt from foster care in PA are funded through the state. Adoption finalization expenses are also generally subsidized or reimbursed for children exiting foster care.
What other kinds of legal permanency options are available to families besides foster care adoption?
Permanent Legal Custody and Kinship Adoption.
Who are the children waiting to be adopted from foster care?
Children who are in the custody of PA County Children and Youth Agencies. They are ages 0-21 and have often experienced abuse or neglect. Many of the children waiting to be adopted are considered to have special needs or characteristics that make it more difficult to find an adoptive family, such as being an older child or teen, part of a sibling group, or having some level of emotional or physical disability. Many children are adopted by their foster parents who cared for them before their goal changed to adoption. Those who are not are featured on the Pennsylvania Adoption Exchange website.
How do children in foster care become available for adoption?
In almost all cases, when a child is placed in foster care, their primary goal is reunification with their family. The court also gives them a concurrent goal (such as adoption, permanent legal custody, kinship care, or another permanent planned living arrangement) in case the primary goal cannot be met. The family is given time to try and achieve reunification with assistance from the county and other agencies. If reunification efforts are unsuccessful, the concurrent goal may become the primary goal. If a child’s primary goal is changed to adoption, and there are no other family or kinship members willing to adopt the child, the foster parents are usually given the option, and once an adoptive family is identified, the county agency will pursue termination of the child’s parents’ rights and steps will be taken to finalize an adoption.
Can I adopt without being a foster parent?
While FCS will conduct and write home studies for families wishing to adopt privately in PA, we do not facilitate private adoptions (matching or legal process). If you wish to adopt a child through FCS who is placed through the PA Child Welfare system, you must also be approved as a foster parent. The children who are placed for adoption through FCS are all foster-to-adopt.
If I’m only interested in adoption, how long will it take to have a child move into my home?
It depends. If you are only interested in accepting a child whose parental rights are already terminated and whose goal has already been changed to adoption, it could take a while. Families who are very specific in the age or characteristics of a preferred child tend to wait longer. Families who are willing to consider older kids/teens, children with greater needs, sibling groups, or children who are already listed on the Pennsylvania Adoption Exchange may be matched with a child sooner. Also, families who are open to both fostering and adoption are always more likely to receive placements more quickly, since most children enter foster care with an initial goal of reunification. That family is generally the first one asked to adopt if the child’s primary goal changes to adoption. But it also requires a willingness to support reunification efforts until parents’ rights are terminated.
Are there benefits to doing foster care prior to adopting?
YES! Being a foster parent can give you experience that county agencies are looking for in potential adoptive parents. Fostering gives you opportunities to learn how the system works and experience what it is like to parent children who have experienced abuse or neglect and how it will impact your family.
How do I get matched with a child?
There are many ways we help families get matched with a child. One is through routine county referrals that are made to FCS. Another is through a variety of agency networking opportunities and agency matching events. Approved families are able to participate in family matching events, and they can search on waiting child sites. FCS will create matching materials, such as a flyer, on behalf of your family to share with other agencies.
What support is available for families after an adoption?
In addition to community services and resources, there are additional supports available specifically to adoptive and other legally permanent families. SWAN Post-Permanency Services can be obtained by contacting SWAN at 1-800-585-SWAN. Adoption subsidies and continued medical assistance are determined for permanency families. Financial assistance for higher education is also available for older youth who exit foster care.