Is It Your Time to Foster?

The need for foster families right now is real. There are children in care with no placements available to them. If you’ve ever considered becoming a foster or adoptive parent, now is the time to contact COBYS Family Services. We provide wraparound foster care services in Central Pennsylvania, including Lancaster County and areas in Berks, Cumberland, Dauphin, Schuylkill, York, and Lebanon counties. We’re looking for all kinds of families to join us in providing loving care to children by becoming foster or foster-to-adopt parents.

Wanted: Foster & Adoptive Families

We believe every child deserves to grow up in a nurturing environment. You have the power to transform a child’s life by making the love and stability they need possible. Foster families are critical in the child welfare system, as they serve children and create supportive relationships with birth families. Foster families must complete a rigorous approval process, but there is no “typical” foster family. We need families as unique as the children in care.

COBYS is Looking for Families with…

If you’ve ever considered becoming a foster or adoptive parent, take the first step now. Attend a COBYS Information Session to learn about the ways you can provide a safe and loving home to children in need, with both short- and long-term care options to consider.

Hear from COBYS Foster Families

For a preview of the foster care experience, please watch and share this video. Hear three COBYS foster families discuss how and why they provide the love, guidance, nurturing, and structure children need to heal from past experiences to realize their God-given potential, through one of three types of foster care.

The COBYS Difference

Caring for foster children presents many challenges. COBYS believes foster families and foster children thrive when families have the tools and support they need. We offer unparalleled training and support to foster families, providing care with compassion, dignity, and hope.

Motivated by Christian faith, COBYS educates, supports, and empowers children and adults to reach their full potential. The COBYS Difference comes down to why we do what we do and how we do it: with a servant spirit. We are called to provide joyful, transformative care through:

Cutting-edge trauma training for staff and foster families
Manageable caseloads to help us provide foster families with the help and support they need to succeed
Support for foster children andtheir foster families through regular visits, advice, encouragement, and 24-hour emergency access to a caseworker
Financial assistance for foster families, which helps cover foster children’s living and travel expenses

How We All Can Help

Foster families are called to extraordinary service, but community matters too. It takes all of us to provide safe, loving homes for children in need. Be part of the COBYS community and help us bring exceptional care to kids and families when they need it most.

Learn More About COBYS’ Services

Foster Care

COBYS provides state-required services and so much more to children in the foster care system through the work of caseworkers who are CAREworkers. COBYS also recruits, approves, and trains resource families to care for children in foster care. The approval and training process at COBYS is unmatched for preparing families for the ministry of caring for children who have experienced trauma, as all foster children have. Foster families are supported throughout the process with ongoing training and support sessions.

Adoption

We facilitate adoptions of foster children through the Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network (SWAN). Additionally, we provide a variety of adoption-related services to assist families who are seeking to adopt as well as families in a kinship arrangement. Support is also available for those who already have adopted through free Post-Adoption Services.

Counseling

The trained staff at COBYS Family Services offers professional psychotherapy and support to individuals, couples, and families at two locations in Lancaster County. Our counselors address marital and couples’ therapy, relational issues, family therapy, depression and anxiety, and more. They also address trauma-related issues with evidence-based therapies including EMDR and TF-CBT.

Family Life Education

COBYS’ Family Life Education Department offers a broad range of programs. While we are best known for our parenting courses, our programs share the common goal of supporting the development of human potential by providing parents, other adults, and children with information and skills to foster cooperation, courage, responsibility, self-esteem, and respect.

Permanency

The COBYS Permanency Unit is a specialized program whose goal, when possible, is to reunify children in foster care with their biological family. Staffed by COBYS, the program is funded by and serves children and families referred by the Lancaster County Children and Youth Social Service Agency. The two organizations work in partnership to achieve common goals of ensuring the safety of children, strengthening families, and securing permanency for children.