Post-Permanency Services

Post-Permanency Services

In Pennsylvania, families who have provided permanency through adoption, regardless of whether the adoption was facilitated through the child welfare system, private, or international means, are eligible for valuable post-permanency services offered by the Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network (SWAN). Additionally, formal kinship or permanent legal guardianship families who step forward to provide stability for Pennsylvania foster children can also access SWAN’s post-permanency services. Importantly, these services are offered at no cost through SWAN.

Available Services

SWAN’s post-permanency services are designed to provide essential support to families for a duration of six months. The primary focus of this program is to empower families by helping them identify their strengths, establish meaningful goals, and connect with community resources to ensure continued support following their completion of SWAN services.

How It Works

Families can access these family-driven services by reaching out to the SWAN Helpline at 1-800-585-7926 or via email at [email protected]. The Helpline’s personnel gather essential information from the family, which is then shared with the selected affiliate agency. This ensures that families won’t need to repeat their stories when they meet their new worker. The Helpline also assists families in choosing a nearby affiliate if they are not already aware of one. Once an affiliate is selected, a referral is made, and the affiliate’s worker will make contact with the family within a week.

• Assessment: This helps families identify their strengths and needs, set goals, and create a family support plan to achieve those goals. The assessment also determines which units of services—case advocacy, respite, and support group—are most suitable. Importantly, all family members, including birth children, are eligible for these SWAN services.
• Case Advocacy: This service ensures that the family can access community resources that align with their unique needs. It may include attending school meetings with the family, fostering collaboration with other service providers, and identifying and coordinating support services to help the family achieve their goals.
• Respite: This unit of service supports eligible families by developing resources to alleviate the pressures of parenting children with special needs. It focuses on establishing capable resources to provide ongoing care either within or outside the home—resources that remain available beyond SWAN funding.
• Support Groups: These groups provide parents and children with opportunities to connect with other families and youth who are navigating similar challenges. Support group members form a supportive community offering mentoring, education, socialization, and recreational activities. These gatherings offer families a platform to share their experiences, both the challenges and successes, in providing permanency to a child. Often, support group members provide informal respite to one another.

Resources for You

SWAN offers a post-permanency flyer that promotes Pennsylvania’s free post-permanency services, accessible to adoptees (including those from private or international adoptions), permanent legal custodianship families, and formalized kinship families in Pennsylvania. The flyer outlines how to access these services and provides brief descriptions of each.