Family Profile:
Before a family is able to open their home to a child through a SWAN placement, a Family Profile must be completed. This is an extensive and detailed background report used to certify applicants and to ensure their home is a safe, healthy environment for a child.
Because the Family Profile is a comprehensive picture of your family’s history and current life, it is no surprise it takes a number of months to complete. Completing the profile involves trainings, meeting with a Haven caseworker in your home, and submitting documents to Haven’s office. The completed Family Profile is then “used by child welfare agencies, the Pennsylvania Adoption Exchange (PAE), and caseworkers to evaluate, share, and match approved prospective resource families with children awaiting foster care, permanent legal custodianship (PLC), or adoption[1].”
It is important to note that children who are looking for permanency through SWAN are at the end of their foster care journey, and they are not able to go back to their biological families. If you are considering requesting a Family Profile through SWAN, you should be prepared to support older children, sibling groups, and children who have special needs.
Interested in learning more? Click here to connect with Haven’s Director of SWAN Services.
Family Matching:
Once families are approved through the family profile process, they enter the family matching program. The Family Matching Unit includes ongoing efforts to match the family, as well as activities to identify a child for placement with an eligible SWAN family through implementation of a Family Matching Plan. Eligible families will have a current approved SWAN Family Profile, not have an identified child for adoption, be interested in PA children waiting for adoption, and meet one or more of the following criteria: searching for a child aged ten and older, searching for children with significant medical, physical, cognitive or emotional challenges, or searching for sibling group.
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[1] swantoolkit.org/toolkit/06-units-of-service/family-profile
