SWAN LSI Incarceration Resource Manual

A Case-Planning Tool to Help Achieve Better Outcomes for Children in the Child Welfare System With Incarcerated Parents

Download the Incarceration Resource Manual | pdf

Working with incarcerated parents who are involved in the child welfare system can be challenging due to the variance between individual county prisons’ policies, procedures and available services.  The Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network (SWAN) Legal Services Initiative (LSI) Incarceration Resource Manual was developed after recognizing the value of compiling county prison policies and procedures into a single, comprehensive document

This manual contains entries for each Pennsylvania county prison, appendices with more detailed information and links to county prison websites.  It is intended to be a tool to assist caseworkers and supervisors in their case planning with incarcerated parents as well as a resource to support the counties’ efforts to engage with these parties.  Our development of this tool aims to strengthen the parent-child bond by preventing loss of connection to an incarcerated parent while supporting the child’s well-being and permanency goals.  Since the release of the original manual in 2016, it remains our hope that this resource manual will help achieve better outcomes for the children of incarcerated parents in the child welfare system and make a difference in the lives of the families we support.

If you have any updates about county prison policies and procedures, questions or concerns please contact lsi-irmupdates@diakon-swan.org.