This service is available to any child or older youth in the legal custody of a county children and youth agency, CCYA in out of home placement. A Child Profile is a comprehensive summary of the child’s life history, current functioning and special needs. It can be referred for all children and youth in CCYA custody who are in out of home care, regardless of their permanency goal, and assists in choosing a resource family. The profile creates a history the child may review with their child preparation worker, independent living worker, resource, kinship, custodial or adoptive family and may be given to youth aged 14 and older. SWAN’s Child Profile assists in identifying connections and supports for a child by reviewing past and existing relationships. For older youth, the profile provides a summary so they can review the sequence of their time in out of home care.
A detailed description of the contents of a Child Profile and the required timelines for its completion can be found in the SWAN bulletin. Referrals for this service must come from the county with custody. Payment is made when the county certifies that the work is completed as outlined in the benchmarks and to the county’s satisfaction. Once initially completed, the Child Profile service includes updated addendums to be completed for three consecutive years when a child has no permanent resource. For those children who are adopted, a copy of the Child Profile must be sent to the Pennsylvania Adoption Information Registry by the county or the county may request it be sent by the affiliate.
For more information and guidance, please access the SWAN Child Profile web based training by clicking: www.swan-online.net.