Adoption

In permanency planning, nothing is more important than the child’s safety and well being. When best efforts fail to ensure that children can safely remain in, or return to their birth families, adoption provides a means of achieving permanency, often with a family the children know—relatives or foster parents.

Most children goaled for adoption have an “identified adoptive resource,” an individual or couple, whether kin or foster parent(s), who has agreed to adopt them.  For those children without identified adoption resources, matches are pursued using state and local data bases of approved adoptive homes. Every attempt is made to find a healthy, supportive home for children in need. 

Since 1996, DHS has engaged in a public-private collaboration between the state, the DHS Office of Children, Youth and Families, the Allegheny County Children's Court, and a private sector law firm, Reed Smith LLP, to address the necessity of safe, permanent homes for the children involved in the foster care system in Allegheny County. This collaborative effort, the  Adoption Legal Services Project, is funded by the StateWide Adoption and Permanency Network.

Recognizing that the need for support, counseling and—in some cases—tangible aid continues as a new child is integrated into the family, DHS remains available to those who need services after adoptions are finalized.

Adoption Resources

Persons interested in preparing to be an adoptive family to a child(ren) in Allegheny County may contact the DHS Office of Children, Youth and Families Adoption Office at 412-473-2300 or the StateWide Adoption Network (SWAN) at 1-800-585-SWAN (7926).

 Adoption Tax Credit

Adopt US Kids

Kids for Keeps

Pennsylvania Adoption Exchange

Three Rivers Adoption Council