Anyone SWAN Approved and have experience adopting out of state?

Hi! SWAN and the private agencies can be interesting to deal with and you can get a ton of different answers. If you haven't already completed the homestudy with your private agency you may want to check to see if you can find one that is more open to dealing with outside states. We adopted our girls from within the state, but did submit, prior to their placement, for children from other states. I was told that we did not have to pay for the homestudy - and we would have to only if we accepted placement from another state, and that state wouldn't pay. Post placement visits should all be part of the ICPC (Interstate compact) Hope that helps! Feel free to ask any questions! Diane

We are SWAN approved and have been looking outside the state. If there is any chance of you going out of state, every private agency I contacted requested the fee of the homestudy upfront. They advised that if we ended up adopting from within the state then the homestudy cost would be reimbursed by SWAN. As for the cost of the followup visits for an out of state adoptive placement, it depends on the state and the POS (Point of Service) Fee. Some states will pay your private agency to do the visits, other states will pay some of the cost and there are many states that don't pay any of the followup stuff/visits. The normal POS fee Ive heard is $8000 (in addition to the $1500 or $2500 homestudy fee). I know 2 PA families that are currently going through the ICPC process (and they are members of this board). One family adopted from OH and she's been with them just over 2 months. The other family is currently having their 3rd visit with a child from FL and she should be placed permanently with them by end of this month. I know the family with the OH girl, had many of the expenses covered by the OH county (including their travel costs to visit the girl). Im not so sure about the ones adopting from FL. I can't provide any personal input on the actual ICPC process because we currently have an interview for a within state boy. Also, I paid for half my homestudy and then started fostering. So they refunded my money and advised I'd only have to now pay them if I did infact go out of state. But b/c of the fostering and the instate interview, I haven't had to lay out the money. If you want to pm me, I can tell you the agency Im using, as well as the agencies the other 2 families used... and maybe refer you to them for some first hand experience/knowledge. Good luck in your journey!!!

I'm confused. You say you looked outside the state, but then you say you didn't purchase your home study. Is that correct, or am I misunderstanding something in your post?

I REALLY think it all depends on your cw that did your homestudy for SWAN. We had to be approved thru SWAN to adopt our foster son. We were planning on using SWAN for our second adoption, but were told because we already had a child we wouldn't be eligible for an infant if one became available. We recently began our search for a birthmother independently. I emailed our sw and asked if I could purchase the homestudy she did for us since it's still valid for a few more months. She wrote me back and said she had checked with SWAN and since we are fully compliant with them we could HAVE the homestudy...and she mailed it to us.

We were in the process of purchasing our homestudy (b/c we were looking both in and out of state). But then we started to do fostering and they told us that b/c of that we didn't need to pay and returned our money. Although we are not currently fostering, we are now interviewing for a boy within state for adoption... so we don't have to purchase the homestudy. Hopefully that clears it up?

Hi I had to answer this question! I no luck with Swan,a waste of my time,disrupted placement,and everything else! we wanted to adopted out of state and decided to pursue the in state method,unless your near Philly or Pittsburgh,with bigger agencies,all agencies with 3,ooo or plus familes are looking for children.I was told the uusal pay for my home study and so forth! Well after all my trials and tribulations,We have a out of state placement with Texas! Hopefully next month! My home study cost me no mnoey,because my little tiny agency does homesudies for the fractionof a the cost of SWAN! A $1,000 I think which was covered by a grant by --------- network a referal service out of Ohio,which help place kiddos from all 50 states in the state foster system. They are not a adoption agency! I was matched in Feb 2007,My home study approved Sept 2006,Im happy and excited and scared to death,read my past post you will understand why! Love to talk to you, Regards, Beagle

Congrats! Can you pm me the name of the network in OH? And how old is the child you're getting from TX?

I haven't read all of the responses or the original posters information in full. But I will after I respond. I am approved through SWAN, and I am receiving the same information. I was told I would not have to pay for anything...the homestudy, the lawyer and the court costs once my adoption was finalized. Now I will go back and read all of the posts and then reply again. I am so sick of being confused and getting conflicting information. Do you know who you talked to at SWAN? Ask for Karen Lollo. She can help you

Hi, I am using an agency that is in SWAN's approved network of agencies. I was told at the parenting classes that we would have to pay the 2500.00 in 3 installments until we were matched then we would be reimbursed by the agency after SWAN reimbursed them. They also stated that there would be no fees for court costs and lawyers because it's done on a pro bono basis.

This is what we have found out after contacting SWAN and our agency talking to SWAN.To adopt within PA there is no cost to you. In our case, we don't have to pay anything if we adopt in-state. Our agency will collect the money from SWAN. To adopt out of state, you must pay $2500 upon placement of a child in your home. But some states offer POS which will cover some of this amount.Hope this helps!

I didn't have no luck with Swan,i tried for 6 years to adopt through! I wanted to adopt out of state from the beginning! Finally after a disruption,I tried again! I went for out of state,and now we have a 11 year old boy! He has been here a month! My home study didn't cost me anything due to a grant! PM me I will give you the details! Out of state adoption is possible,it is a timely process! Did you ever realize how many counties and how many agencies,and how many waiting families in state and out of state? I see the same children on the state come and go,and back on again! Agencies are defintely making a profit! But enough of my negativity! Some people have had positive Swan experiences! Regards, Beagle

I have a little one at home (6 weeks); the goal is reunification with a family member. I would love to adopt him but it probably will not be possible. He is my first placement. Here's my question. My county said that PA does not have a foster to adopt program. However, after I was approved for foster parenting, I received matching profiles of babies available for adoption from SWAN. I called and they said my county sent in my approval for adoption. They knew that I also wanted to adopt but never told me my homestudy would approve me for adoption as well. I'm thrilled about it but wonder if it is accurate. I'm really confused. How does it work? My husband & I would like to adopt a waiting child and continue to do the fostering....I starting looking on the website. But, when I went back to look at my certificate it only stated foster care. I'm so confused...can someone enlighten me. Is there a foster care/adopt program in PA? They told me they are now approving for both...in case of adoption of a placed child. Any experienced foster parents out there that can spell out the ABC's of foster parenting and adopting in PA? I would appreciate it.