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Adoption & Foster Care Resources

Adoption & Foster Care Resources

Adoption Resources

AR is the foundation of TRAC. Started in 1978 in response to Allegheny County’s need for centralized recruitment and education of families, TRAC has become one of the largest full service adoption and foster care agencies in western Pennsylvania. AR staff provide adoption information to prospective parents and recruit families for waiting children. This program serves families of all races and ethnicities, but focuses recruitment efforts on the cultural values of the African American community because of the critical need for adoptive families for African American children. One of AR’s capstone projects is the Waiting Child segment aired on KDKA-TV.

Black Adoption Services

BAS is responsible for the placement of children and the supervision of families to ensure the needs of the children are being met.

Matching

Once recruited families receive 36 hours of trauma focused pre-service training as well as completed family profiles (AKA Home Studies) for approval as foster and/or adoptive families.

Teen Foster Care Project

In 2016, TRAC was selected to embark on a special project aimed at significantly decreasing the number of teens in group home settings, by placing them with foster families. Through the Foster Goodness project, TRAC has set a goal of placing 75 teens 12 – 21 years of age. This includes teens and their siblings, as well as teens who are parenting children.

Child Specific Recruitment (CSR)

CSR is intensive family recruitment for youth identified as difficult to place. TRAC provides this service through the Pennsylvania Statewide Adoption & Permanency Network (SWAN).

Extreme Family Finding (EFF)

EFF is a race to find permanency for youth using 12-20 weeks of intensive recruitment efforts and permanency preparation. The main goal is to improve long term relational outcomes for youth in care.