Articles Tagged adoptive, page 1

  • Permanency Pro Strikes a Chord of Kindness, Humor and Skill

    David has spent most of his career working in the permanency unit and is one of the most genuine, thorough, and kind people one could have the privilege to know. To say David is beloved by colleagues and clients is no exaggeration. His heartfelt, skilled interventions have helped countless children secure permanency through reunification, adoption, or custodianship. 

    Posted on August 26th, 2024

  • SSW Presenter Calls for Youth-Led Culture of Care

    When Chauncey Strong, MSW took the stage at the opening of the 2024 SWAN/IL Summer Statewide Meeting, he issued a challenge to everyone in the room. “Whatever you believe will be right,” he said, “because you work to the level of your belief.”

    Posted on August 23rd, 2024

  • Permanency Conference is an Annual Dose of Encouragement

    The 32nd Annual Pennsylvania Permanency Conference at the Kalahari Conference Center was the place to be June 19-21, 2024 if you are in any way connected to child welfare and permanency. Families, professionals, advocates and others gathered for three days to learn, be uplifted and make friends and memories. 

    Posted on August 23rd, 2024

  • What can the SWAN Helpline do for you?

    “This is the SWAN Helpline. How may I help you?” This is a familiar opening to the phone conversations that take place each weekday between SWAN Helpline technical specialists and individuals calling to learn more about beginning or continuing with the process to become a permanency resource for children and youth in the Pennsylvania child welfare system.

    Posted on March 1st, 2024

  • Celebrating Families and Commitments to Connection

    Having just wrapped up the holiday season, we are reminded it is a time for families to come together in celebration and connection. As a permanency network, we know that families come in all shapes and sizes and are built in an infinite number of ways. At last summer’s annual Pennsylvania Permanency Conference, we celebrated three families, each of which had a unique kinship or birth family connection..

    Posted on January 10th, 2024

  • Empowering Youth and Finding Connections: National Adoption Month 2023

    November has been a month of adoption recognition for nearly 40 years, beginning with a national adoption week recognition in 1984. Led by the Children’s Bureau, the theme for this year’s campaign is “Empowering Youth: Finding Points of Connection.” which focuses on giving space for youth to have agency and a say in the decisions that impact their lives, as well as embracing and affirming their racial and cultural identities as factors to ...

    Posted on November 7th, 2023

  • SWAN Prime Contractor Names New Leadership

    Over the past few months, a few individuals have been named to new management positions. Voce is pleased to announce that Tammy Hendrix, DSW, MSW, LCSW is now serving as the SWAN program administrator; Tinnesha English, MSW is now serving as the SWAN technical assistance program director; Kelly Weston is now serving as the RTA division manager for the SWAN central region; and Robert Brockman is now serving as the PAE division manager.

    Tammy Hendrix ...

    Posted on November 6th, 2023

  • Fostering a Family Engagement Philosophy

    Dubbed “one of the most amazing families,” Anthony and Jessica Johnston are setting the gold standard for what it means to be a foster and adoptive family. The couple was awarded a Permanent Family Recognition award at the 2023 Pennsylvania Permanency Conference for their outstanding record in providing quality care to children and families. 

    Posted on November 6th, 2023

  • SWAN Winter Statewide Meeting Featured Tools, Connection

    More than 400 members of the network gathered at the Penn Stater Conference Center on January 25th and 26th for valuable training, in-person networking, and a centralized matching event. The SWAN Winter Statewide Meeting returned to in-person for the first time since 2019 after being held virtually for two years during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Posted on February 17th, 2023

  • SWAN Program Administrator Judi Damiano Retires

    SWAN Program Administrator Judi Damiano has retired after five years overseeing SWAN programs and services and more than twenty years with the SWAN prime contractor. Judi stepped down from her role and stepped into a well-deserved retirement effective February 10, 2023.

    Posted on February 17th, 2023

  • Pennsylvania Farm Show Offers Both Reunion and Resources

    When Jennifer Casner-Hockenberry, project manager for the Pennsylvania Adoption Exchange (PAE), reflected on the 2023 Pennsylvania Farm Show, her most lasting impression was connecting with both individuals interested in adoption as well as families who formed through adoption.

    Posted on February 17th, 2023

  • National Adoption Month: Small Steps Lead to Great Outcomes

    For 38 years, November has been recognized as National Adoption Month—a time to increase awareness of adoption issues, bring attention to the need for adoptive families for teens in the foster care system, and recognize the value of engaging youth. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf also issued a proclamation recognizing November as Adoption Awareness Month in the Commonwealth.

    Posted on November 4th, 2022

  • The Art of Selflessness

    We’ve all heard the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” For Pennsylvania’s children and youth in foster care, these words take on greater significance when it comes to finding permanency. Every day, these children and youth are navigating trauma, a multitude of changes, uncertainty, education, relationships, and much more. Simultaneously, dedicated permanency workers are writing strengths-based narratives for them, collaborating with counties on information sharing processes, and employing a variety of recruitment strategies to match them with permanent families.

    Posted on September 26th, 2022

  • Adoptive Families Celebrated at Annual Picnic

    An annual tradition of the Westmoreland County Children’s Bureau (WCCB) is the Adoption Celebration Picnic at Idlewild & SoakZone in Ligonier, PA. Each year, the past 12-months’ adoptees and their adoptive families are invited to attend the picnic lunch and spend the day at the park. With Covid-19 concerns looming large in 2020 and 2021, this year it was good to be back in-person!

    Posted on August 30th, 2022

  • Meet Rachel Kuhr: Permanency Scholar, Mentor and Advocate

    As we look forward to this summer’s Pennsylvania Permanency Conference, we invite you to get to know 2021’s Permanency Professional Award recipient, Rachel Kuhr. If you’ve ever been to a SWAN conference, statewide meeting, or central region quarterly meeting, you know Rachel. If she’s not sharing her knowledge as a presenter, she is listening intently – usually while crocheting – and asking all the right questions to achieve clarity and improve service delivery for children in out-of-home care.

    Posted on March 28th, 2022

  • Permanency Team Honored for their Dedication to a Special Three-Year-Old Boy

    Three-year-old Angel has had a unique journey to permanency. Medical needs, distant placements, and a global pandemic created some challenges for his team to solve. However, Heather Miller, Christina Cross, and Barbara Black were up to the task. These women worked tirelessly, along with the support of numerous other team members, to help Angel find his home—a place where he could have his first birthday and Christmas celebrations in a true family setting. They ...

    Posted on January 14th, 2022

  • Governor Wolf Proclaims November Adoption Awareness Month

    Governor Wolf’s November 2021 Adoption Awareness Month proclamation encouraged “citizens across the commonwealth to recognize the importance of adoption and make every effort to ensure that all children in Pennsylvania have a safe, loving place to call home.”

    Posted on November 22nd, 2021

  • SWAN Mini-grant Funds Creative Virtual Events

    As a team with primarily social work or counseling backgrounds, technology can sometimes pose a learning curve; however, at The Children’s Home & Lemieux Family Center, we are lucky that our team is always up to the task. In November, we were able to use a National Adoption Month mini-grant to host COVID-19-safe virtual events and connect with families who wanted to learn more about foster care and adoption.

    Posted on February 26th, 2021

  • Permanency Professional Honored for Perseverance and Passion

    Connie Snyder has been a frontline worker with Warren County Children and Youth for 13 years. In that time, she has found forever families for 64 children. While the number is itself impressive, Connie’s drive to never give up, even on the hardest-to-place children, even when her supervisor might say it’s time for plan B, is what is most impressive. Last summer, Connie received the Permanency Professional Recognition Award at the Pennsylvania Permanency Conference for her outstanding work.

    Posted on April 8th, 2020

  • Centre County Orphan Care Alliance Gives Meaning to “Care Community”

    Imagine voicing one of your greatest needs and having a network of caring individuals respond in force.  Recently, a Centre County birth mother pursing reunification reported running out of firewood for winter heating. The Centre County Orphan Care Alliance (CCOCA) sprang into action ...

    Posted on February 18th, 2020