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Adoption: Caring Hearts

Adoption is a joyous event, with fresh starts, unbounding optimism and relief. But COBYS recognizes that even in this joy there is loss. The foster care-to-adoption journey is not without its challenges. Having COBYS as a partner is invaluable. Through evidence-based training, unparalleled support and compassionate care, COBYS provides the chance for empowerment and hope.

COBYS provides adoption through foster care and adoption preparation and finalization services. There is a real and urgent need for foster and foster-to-adopt families who are called to provide loving homes for children with no placements available to them.

What is Adoption through Foster Care?

In Pennsylvania, thousands of children in the foster care system are seeking permanency with a family. When children who are placed into foster care cannot be reunited with their birth family, another form of permanency is sought. Some children remain with their foster family who adopt them, sometimes the child is moved to a new home for the purpose of adoption. As an affiliate of the Pennsylvania Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network (SWAN), COBYS is part of a network of public and private organizations that share a common goal of providing permanent homes in a timely manner for Pennsylvania’s foster children.

If you have ever considered becoming a foster or adoptive parent to children in the foster care system, now is the time to contact COBYS. We’ll show you the ways you can provide a safe and loving home to children in need. There are short and long-term care options to consider.

Children are placed into potentially adoptive homes when they have been placed into foster care and cannot be reunified with their birth family. They are children who are:

  • Between the ages of 8 to 21
  • Of all racial and ethnic groups
  • Of various religions
  • Individuals (only children)
  • Sibling groups
  • Who may have emotional, behavioral or medical needs

  • Married or single persons
  • Families with or without biological children
  • Families with or without a stay-at-home caregiver
  • Families willing to make a lifetime commitment to a child/children
  • Providers of love, guidance, nurturing and structure that children need to heal from past experiences
  • Families open and willing to seek support from professionals
  • Families willing to learn to integrate the child’s culture into their family
  • Families who acknowledge the importance of a child’s birth family
  • Families willing to parent an older child or sibling group
Foster Care And Adoption FAQs

What is the COBYS Role in the Foster Care System

Train and approve families to care for children.

Provide ongoing support to foster children and families through regular visits, guidance, and 24/7 caseworker access.

Receive referrals for children in foster care from county child welfare agencies.

Provide financial assistance to foster families which helps to cover the child's living and travel expenses.

Become a Foster Family

Becoming a Foster Family with COBYS

Becoming a foster family is a process designed to educate and empower families to partner with COBYS to provide the best care possible for children in foster care.

Adopted Child

Foster parents must meet these criteria to be eligible to serve:

  • Be at least 21 years of age
  • If two people are presenting as parental figures in the home, they must be married to each other for at least one year
  • If an applicant is divorced, widowed, or legally separated, a minimum of one year must have passed prior to applying
  • Be able to provide transportation for foster children to appointments and visits
  • Be able to meet the physical, emotional, cultural, and spiritual needs of foster children
  • Practice positive parenting skills and pledge not to use corporal punishment
  • Be willing to establish positive relationships with birth parents
  • Be willing to communicate openly with COBYS staff on all matters impacting a foster child’s well-being
  • Live within one hour driving distance to COBYS’ Murry Hill Center office in central Lancaster County

Waiting Children

The Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network (SWAN) reports that approximately 2,500 Pennsylvania children are waiting for adoption. While some of these children will be adopted by their current foster parents, many others do not have an identified permanent home. These children often are called “Waiting Children”.

Many of these are special children who require special families. Many have suffered from abuse or neglect. These children may be older, part of a minority group or a sibling group. Like all children, they deserve a family who accepts and nurtures them and helps them reach their full potential.

Child Specific Recruitment Program

For some children who have no identified family resource, often called “Waiting Children”, COBYS works diligently to find a permanent resource through our Child Specific Recruitment program. You can meet children waiting to be adopted at www.adoptpakids.org.

  • Request an Inquiry Packet to learn more about foster care and adoption

  • Attend a virtual Information Session for potential resource families

  • Submit an application including personal references and financial information

  • Complete Pre-Service Training Class, including online and in person participation

  • Have all household members complete medical appraisals

  • Obtain criminal background checks and required documentation

  • Complete family history paperwork, interviews, and follow-through

  • Pass a home safety inspection

  • Specify preferences for children you are able to care for
Foster Kids

The COBYS Information Session is a virtual meeting held from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., offered twice each month with our Foster Care staff. The session includes an introduction to the foster care system, the children and families involved, as well as information about the roles, responsibilities, and expectations for foster families. The session will outline the approval process to become a foster family and provide a chance to ask questions. As this meeting is designed to help families decide if foster care is a good fit for their family, married couples should attend together. Due to the sensitive nature of some content, children are not permitted to attend and childcare is not provided. Following the Information Session, attendees are eligible to submit the application form to pursue becoming a resource family.

Pre-Service Training is the training process for families to be able to be approved as a foster or foster-to-adopt family. Upon COBYS’ receipt of a Resource Family Application, families are required to attend Pre-Service Training, which is offered at Murry Hill Center multiple times per year in daytime and evening formats. Once an application is completed, a resource home specialist will be in contact with you concerning the dates of the pre-service training. Due to the sensitive nature of some content, children are not permitted to attend, and childcare is not provided.
Through videos, classroom instruction, activities, and in person interviews with COBYS staff, Pre-Service Training addresses the following topics:

  • Laws, regulations, and procedures of foster care and adoption
  • Expectations and motivations of foster families
  • Abuse and neglect
  • Grief and loss
  • Childhood Mental Health
  • Attachment, Trauma, and Discipline during Introduction to Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI)
  • Diversity
  • Birth families
  • Reasonable and Prudent Parenting Standards Impact of foster care and adoption on the foster family
  • Supporting resident children
  • CPR/First Aid

Foster Family

Foster Care Families

Post Permanency Unit

The papers are signed. The celebrations were held. The process is complete. But the journey has just begun. And it is a journey. And there is help along the way.

COBYS Post Permanency Services provides free support and hope to adoptive families by offering guidance and validation, creatively troubleshooting obstacles to family sustainment, expanding the family’s network of resources and support, and facilitating bonding and self-care. These services are free of charge to Pennsylvania families and are subsidized through the Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network (SWAN). Families self-refer for these short-term services, which are used to support the child and family after the adoption or guardianship has been finalized.

Resources

Swan Helpline
Swan Email
Contact Cobys
Email Cobys

Post Permanency Services Include:

Case Advocacy

  • Mediating between birth families and adopted children
  • Networking with other community service providers
  • Providing therapeutic resources
  • Acting as advocates to obtain specialized help

Respite Care

  • Daytime or overnight care for children by trained respite providers
  • Day Camp experiences: For summer camp, regional winter and holiday break camps and spring break camps

Support Groups

  • Connect families to community virtual and in-person support groups

Who Qualifies?

You qualify for these free services if you live in Pennsylvania and:

  • Have adopted a child (domestically or internationally)
  • Are a licensed kinship provider who has adopted or has legal custody/guardianship of a child