Foster Care Services
Providing foster care is an act of love. Foster care is heartbreaking, often messy, and always traumatic. But when addressed with compassion and empathy, it can also provide joy and hope. COBYS is called to provide that kind of care, with wraparound foster care services in Pennsylvania in Lancaster County and areas in Berks, Cumberland, Dauphin, Schuylkill, York, and Lebanon counties.
What Is Foster Care?
When the child welfare system determines children are unable to live with their birth families due to abuse, neglect, safety issues, or behavioral problems, they are placed in foster care. The goal of the foster care process is to help birth families resolve the issues that led to a child’s placement in foster care so that they can be reunited as quickly and safely as possible. Foster care is intended to be temporary for children. Typically, if families cannot be reunified within 15 months, a permanent option, such as adoption, is pursued.
Kids & Teens Need You
Approximately 15,000 children in Pennsylvania are in foster care. If you’ve ever considered becoming a foster parent, now is the time. Attend a COBYS Information Session and learn how you can provide a safe and loving home to children in need. There are short- and long-term care options to consider.
COBYS’ Role in the Foster Care System
Caring for foster children presents many challenges to families. Our servant spirit approach and manageable caseloads allow us to provide foster families with unparalleled support to succeed in parenting.
COBYS trains and approves families to care for children.
We receive referrals for children in foster care from county child welfare agencies. When a COBYS resource family is determined to be the best placement for a child, we assume responsibility for meeting the child’s physical, emotional, educational, cultural, and spiritual needs.
We support children and their foster families through regular visits, coaching, encouragement, and 24-hour emergency access to a caseworker.
COBYS provides financial assistance to foster families, which helps to cover foster children’s living and travel expenses.
Who Are the Children in Foster Care?
Children are placed into foster care because they cannot safely stay with their birth family or family of origin. Foster children are:
- Between the ages of 0 and 21
- Of all racial and ethnic groups
- Of various religions
- Individuals and sibling groups
- Children who may have emotional, mental, behavioral, or medical needs
Who Are Foster & Foster-to-Adopt Families?
COBYS foster families are:
- Married or single people
- Families with or without biological children
- Families with or without a stay-at-home caregiver
- Providers of love, guidance, nurturing, and structure that children need to heal from past experiences
- Open to one or more of the following ways to care for children: foster care, adoption through foster care (also called foster-to-adopt, a lifetime commitment to a child/children), and short-term emergency and respite care
- Open and willing to seek support from professionals
- Willing to learn to integrate the child’s culture into their family
- Families who acknowledge the importance of a child’s birth family
Is It Your Time to Foster?
Take the First Step.
If you’re considering becoming a foster family, request more information or sign up for a free Information Session with COBYS.
