Every family beginning their journey to foster or adopt a child, must start with pre-service training that will prepare them for what lies ahead. BAS offers numerous opportunities throughout the year for families to receive the 30+ hours required for certification. All training curriculum is approved by the Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network (SWAN) and will cover such topics as; Who the Children Are, Who the Parents Are, Working With Birth Parents, Grief and Loss, and Parenting Skills to list a few. At the completion of pre-service training all potential parents are better prepared for the joys and challenges adopting and fostering will bring.

After pre-service training a BAS Profile Writer will guide a potential family through the family profile process. At the end of the evaluation process each family is presented with a culturally appropriate well-crafted profile that will be shared with county and state agencies to match and identify potential children that will best fit with the family. Once the profile is completed the approved profile is transferred to TRAC’s Matching department.

A list of families and the number of beds available for foster care placements is kept with all caseworkers and used to identify families for emergency and planned placements.

Once a child has been identified for adoption placement, a BAS Caseworker is assigned to supervise the placement from the initial visit to finalization. BAS Caseworkers are well trained and can provide the kind of support that is necessary to see a placement to a successful finalization. Caseworkers also provide the same type of support to foster families. Visits are made to families every 14 days to ensure the needs of the child are being met. Both the child and family members are able to share their problems and concerns, as well as their successes with the caseworker during this time. Caseworkers are also available via email in order to have constant access and communication when support is needed.