Glossary of Terms

A model developed by Kevin Campbell to locate and engage relatives of children in out-of-home care with a goal of providing those children with a permanent placement or lifelong connections. True family finding includes ongoing diligent searches for relatives and kin and then engaging and including those family and kin in the permanency process.

A method of bringing family members together in a family-focused, culturally-sensitive approach to develop a safety, reunification or alternate permanency plan for children who are in foster care, who are at risk for entering foster care or who are already in care and in danger of aging out without a permanent resource. FGDM involves meeting with immediate and extended family members and any parties important in the children’s or families’ lives. Unlike the traditional child welfare case conferencing, the family is in charge of the meeting and responsible for creating the recommended plan and identifying the attendees. The caseworker’s participation primarily involves sharing of information and resources and accepting the family’s plan (if safety concerns are adequately addressed). Unique to this practice is private family time that excludes any non-family members.

Families waiting to be matched with a child need extensive engagement and development. The Family Matching unit includes ongoing efforts in these areas as well as activities to identify a child for placement with an eligible SWAN family through implementation of a Family Matching Plan. This is an affiliate referred, 8-month unit of service with the ability for the affiliate to refer for a 4-month extension. The referral can only be made by the agency that completed the SWAN Family Profile. For more information see the 06. SWAN Units of Service and the 08. SWAN Benchmarks & Templates of the Toolkit.

A way of preserving family unity by providing services to children and families in their home. It is based on the standard that the birth family is the preferred family life for children.

The strengths-based social study and preparation of an individual or couple who wishes to provide permanency. The purpose of the document is to determine the individual or couple’s ability to provide safety, nurturing and commitment to a child.  Note: This was previously known as Home Study in Pennsylvania.

A model developed by Kevin Campbell to locate and engage relatives of children in out-of-home care with a goal of providing those children with a permanent placement or lifelong connections. True family finding includes ongoing diligent searches for relatives and kin and then engaging and including those family and kin in the permanency process.

A method of bringing family members together in a family-focused, culturally-sensitive approach to develop a safety, reunification or alternate permanency plan for children who are in foster care, who are at risk for entering foster care or who are already in care and in danger of aging out without a permanent resource. FGDM involves meeting with immediate and extended family members and any parties important in the children’s or families’ lives. Unlike the traditional child welfare case conferencing, the family is in charge of the meeting and responsible for creating the recommended plan and identifying the attendees. The caseworker’s participation primarily involves sharing of information and resources and accepting the family’s plan (if safety concerns are adequately addressed). Unique to this practice is private family time that excludes any non-family members.