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Every child deserves a loving, nurturing permanent home, where they feel cared for, safe and supported. The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare works to provide this permanency through partnerships with the Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network (SWAN) and the Pennsylvania Adoption Exchange.

The Pennsylvania Adoption Exchange (PAE)

The Pennsylvania Adoption Exchange at www.adoptpakids.org maintains an ever-changing database of children who need families as well as families who have been approved to adopt. Matches between children and families are carefully made. PAE publishes a photo-listing book of waiting children. Interested families and social workers receive contact information for the agency that has custody of a child.

Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network (SWAN)

SWAN is a partnership among public and private agencies, judges and the legal community, foster and adoptive parents to build a better collaborative adoption process in Pennsylvania. SWAN serves children in the custody of county Children and Youth agencies who have a goal of adoption. These are children with special needs and finding an adoptive family may be a bigger challenge due to one or more of the following factors:

• The child is five years old or older;
• The child is a member of a sibling group in the same adoptive home;
• The child is a member of a minority group;
• The child has an emotional, physical, or mental condition or disability; and
• The child has a genetic condition that may lead to a disease or handicap.

Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network (SWAN)
PO Box 2675
Harrisburg, Pa. 17105-2675
800-585-SWAN (Toll-Free)

For more information about adoption follow these links: 

• The Collaboration to AdoptUSKids
• National Resource Center for Special Needs Adoption
• North American Council on Adoptable Children
• Together As Adoptive Parents
• Three Rivers Adoption Council
• adoption.com
• Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption
• SWAN Diakon Lutheran Social Services
• DPW Supplemental Foster Care and Adoption Policy Handbook

Act 160 - Resource Family Registry FAQ's:  Act 160 - Frequently Asked Questions