Adoptions

municating, Riche said.

“It’s by far a second choice, so we tried to do more frequent phone calls in between those Zoom meetings,” she said.

The changes are unfortunate but necessary to avoid putting the children and birth families at risk of catching the virus, she said.

“It’s hard to feel as comfortable and trust each other in the same manner (during virtual visits), but the science says we need to try to limit close contact,” she said.

When in-person visits are held, Diakon requires everyone to wear masks and to distance themselves.

“But staying six feet apart is tough when you want to hug your child,” Riche said.

Home inspections and walk-throughs are another big part of the child placement process that Diakon has been doing by Zoom.

Background checks for

criminal histories and child abuse records also slowed during the pandemic, and the fingerprinting required of potential parents was harder to arrange.

Even the medical exams that families needed before approval and vaccinations that foster and adoptive parents needed for their pets were more difficult to get, but that has eased somewhat in recent months, Riche said.

Even orphan court proceedings have been done remotely in many instances.

If technology had not come so far in terms of virtual meetings, the delays would be far worse, Riche said.

“It would have been awful,” she said.

Social media connections

The crucial services that many children who are removed from their homes need, such as counseling and therapy, have also suffered as many in-person sessions

have been replaced by video meetings, Riche said.

Foster and adoptive children who are recovering from trauma and really depend on those interventions, which typically aren’t as effective when done virtually, she said.

Recruitment events for foster and adoptive families and orientation sessions where they meet staff and other families have often been held virtually as well, and so has the training required of new families, but the agencies have been making work.

Diakon is using social media, its website and mailings to recruit families and get information out, but many new parents come to them as a result of a relationship they have with a family already involved, Riche said.

“Luckily, this word of mouth connecting is still going on during the pandemic,” she said.

The Children’s Home used to set up information tables at events like church festivals and sporting events

to recruit families, but with so many of those gatherings canceled due to COVID, it now relies far more on its Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn pages as well as its YouTube channel to spread the word.

“We’re still figuring it out, but we’re also still making matches with kids,” Schoener said.

Counties are also working to keep children in their original homes by increasing prevention services to reduce the amount of abuse and neglect, Pettet said.

And in July, DHS announced that older Pennsylvania youth exiting the foster care system will now be eligible for aftercare services until age 23, giving them longer access to supportive services.

That change will help about 1,500 former foster youth statewide, many of whom could struggle as they adjust to entering the job market during a tough economy, Pettet said.

‘Totally worth it’

Representatives of the

Bethany Children’s Home in Heidelberg Township said that during the pandemic they’ve seen an increase in children coming to its emergency housing shelter, where youth are referred if there is an immediate safety concern from neglect or abuse.

“Because children have not been in school and the job market has been unstable, there has been an increase in household tensions and more potential for harm in the home,” said Sarah Patschke, chief programming officer.

Placements in foster care or group home settings are also more complex due to the need for quarantine protocols and negative test results before bringing a youth into a home, but that has not altered Bethany’s mission of serving youth, she said.

The other agencies said likewise, that they’re even more focused on helping children in need, knowing that demand will likely rise this year.

For children already coming from backgrounds of isolation and trauma, those agencies don’t want the pandemic to bring more of the same, they said.

The O’Neils say they understand why some families may need to step back from fostering or adopting children now.

Jenn said even though she is trained and experienced as a teacher, she found it difficult to help guide Matthew through his virtual schooling when Kutztown was closed, so she sympathizes with nonteachers trying to do likewise.

She also sees why other COVID-related difficulties are making some families reconsider.

But she said her family is thankful that they were able to complete the process and provide Matthew with a better life, despite the pandemic.

“It’s totally been worth it,” she said. “It’s really nice to be able to give him some roots.”