Pocono Manor, Pennsylvania – This week, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) will host the 33rd Pennsylvania Persistence Conference in Monroe County, bringing together child welfare professionals, current and adopted families, adopted families, and relative care providers to work together to learn how to help children and families through adoption through adoption.
The Statewide Adoption and Persistence Network (SWAN) began in 1992 and has since enabled nearly 59,000 adoptions in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is an average of 2,000 final recruitment from the child welfare system per year. Every six months, more than 12,400 Pennsylvania children provide out-of-home care. And about 3,000 of those young people need homes forever.
“Every year, we come together to recognize dedicated people, including county agency staff, upbringing and adoptive caregivers, child welfare professionals, and more, who work every day to find Pennsylvania children and young people. This job deserves to maintain a safe, loving environment for all of Pennsylvania children to maintain a safe, loving environment. “We are extremely proud to have achieved this for the approximately 59,000 Pennsylvania children, and consider adoption in their hearts and homes so that we can continue this progress.”
The mission of the annual Pennsylvania Permanent Conference is to prepare children and their families for a journey to permanence, educate and support all those involved in finding permanent homes for foster children in Pennsylvania, and provide children with the opportunity to match their foster parents and adopted families.
The conference also includes awards ceremonies that recognize people who help children and young people achieve permanent homes. This year's winners include:
Permanent Family Award
Selected families provide legal permanence to children or children involved in the child welfare system.
Charity recognition
The selected organizations demonstrate important charity commitments that promote foster parent persistence.
Persistence advocates
The award recognizes dynamic individuals who demonstrate their commitment to building collaborations to promote the permanence process.
Independent living professional perception
Individuals selected for this award demonstrated that they helped young people transition to becoming successful contributors members of society.
Persistent Professional Awareness
The individuals selected to win this award are permanent professionals working in public or private child welfare agencies.
Youth Advocates' Perceptions
For more information on recruitment and resource development, visit www.adoptpakids.org or call 1-800-585-Swan.
