New Tools and Resources to Support Your Work in Permanency

By Shari McConnell, SWAN Regional Technical Assistant

We’re excited to announce a range of new and enhanced resources now available to support permanency workers across the network! Whether you're writing family profiles, supporting placements and finalizations or recruiting families for waiting youth, these tools are designed to equip you, streamline your efforts and connect you with others doing similar work.

Family Worker Support Group

Launched in February, the Family Worker Support Group offers a dedicated space for networking, resource sharing and peer support. If your work involves family profiles, matching, placement or finalization, this group is for you! Keep an eye out for the next meeting date and registration link; you won’t want to miss this opportunity to collaborate.

PAE Workshop Series

The Pennsylvania Adoption Exchange (PAE) Workshop Series kicked off on September 8, 2025, and runs through December 15, 2025. Each workshop focuses on a different topic and is designed to strengthen your skills and knowledge in key areas of Child Specific Recruitment.  The workshops occur via Zoom and include topic-specific handouts and certificates of training.  You can attend one, several, or all sessions. Register here.

SWAN E-Learning Center

The SWAN E-Learning Center has rolled out updated training for the SWAN Placement and Finalization Units of Service. The training helps provide valuable information about these services as permanency workers move through the SWAN Units of Service Continuum.  

The Placement service is referred when a youth is ready to be placed into an adoptive home and incorporates all pre-placement activities required to get the youth into the identified home. The finalization service begins after the youth is placed in an adoptive home. Supportive services, reports and home visits, as well as work with attorneys and courts, are included in the finalization service.

The SWAN E-Learning Center allows you to learn at your own pace and offers flexibility to revisit materials as needed. These trainings are great for new workers or a refresher for seasoned permanency workers. After completion of the training, a training certificate is provided. Additional modules available in the E-Learning Center include:

• Developing the Child Profile
• Child Preparation
• Post-Permanency
• Family Profile
• Child Specific Recruitment

The SWAN E-Learning Center can be accessed here: SWAN's E-Learning Center

Independent Living on the SWAN Permanency Toolkit

The SWAN Permanency Toolkit now features a new section dedicated to the Independent Living (IL) Program. This includes: IL contact information, program overviews, resources, and youth-focused material. This new section highlights the importance of integrating IL services into permanency planning, and we hope it provides guidance on collaboration between permanency and IL workers.  To access the toolkit, see: SWAN Permanency Toolkit – Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network

If you have questions or need support accessing any of these resources, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your SWAN regional technical assistant.