Adoption FAQs

COBYS needs various types of families, including married or single people, families with or without biological children, and families with or without a stay-at-home caregiver. Our greatest need is for families willing to parent teens, sibling groups, minority children, and medically fragile children.

To allow children to remain in their home school districts, we need foster care and foster-to-adopt families throughout Lancaster County and the surrounding area. The COBYS coverage area generally includes a radius of one-hour’s driving distance to our Main Office at 444 Murry Hill Circle, Lancaster, PA 17601, from southern Lancaster County into parts of Berks, Lebanon, Schuylkill, Dauphin, Cumberland, and York counties.

All children adopted through COBYS’ SWAN (Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network) program begin as foster children. However, when children come into foster care, the goal is almost always reunification with their birth families. Children belong with their birth families when deemed safe and appropriate. In the case that children cannot return home to them, the courts will need to establish a permanent option and may first consider if the foster parents are an adoptive resource.

Outcomes reflect that between 20 and 25 percent of children that are placed with COBYS’ foster care program are adopted by their foster family.

Foster children generally remain in care between six months and three years. Birth families typically receive a minimum of 15 months to correct the issues that led to the child’s placement in foster care, and in many cases, reunification may take longer than 15 months. At any point, a foster child may transition to the care of an approved kinship resource to allow the child to reside with their family of origin.

The Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network (SWAN) reports that approximately 2,500 Pennsylvania children are waiting for adoption. While some 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.

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 on the Adopt PA Kids page of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s website.

Adoption of children in Pennsylvania’s foster care system is heavily subsidized to encourage timely permanency for them. In most cases, adoptions are finalized with little or no cost to the adoptive family. Most children are eligible to receive ongoing adoption assistance until age 18. Additionally, families who adopt through the SWAN program may be eligible for an adoption tax credit.

COBYS’ pre-service training process prepares foster families to foster and adopt children. No separate training for adoption is necessary.

Yes, once adoption or guardianship has been finalized, we offer post-permanency services. These short-term services are aimed at facilitating bonding and family sustainment, as well as expanding families’ resource and support networks. To learn more, please visit our Post-Permanency page.

The most effective foster parents build positive relationships with their foster children’s birth parents and become a source of encouragement to them. Foster parents and birth parents can have regular contact with each other at visitation, medical appointments, and court hearings. If reunification is unable to occur and parental rights are terminated, court-ordered contact with birth family members typically ceases, unless otherwise decided by the foster/adoptive family and birth family.

Foster parents are responsible for transporting children to all appointments, visits, and court hearings. Most foster children have court-ordered, supervised visits with birth family members at a minimum of once a week; however, multiple times a week is common to maintain that familial connection. Foster parents provide transportation to and from these visits.

For all children placed with COBYS, the foster family receives a per diem reimbursement for living expenses, which includes clothing and transportation. Medical, dental, prescription, and mental health care coverage for foster children is provided by the County Children and Youth Agency.

Foster families are responsible for any costs associated with their approval process, including background checks, furnishing their home to accommodate children, and any home improvements needed to meet home safety requirements.

To ensure there are as few moves in the child’s life as possible, COBYS regularly provides support services to help meet the needs of the foster child and foster family. If there is concern for the child’s safety, or the safety of the foster family, an alternative placement will be found.

COBYS desires that resource families seek to meet the physical, emotional, cultural, and spiritual needs of foster children. Service through a servant spirit is why and how we do what we do. Full participation in the life of a church community is strongly encouraged but not required.