Building Families

About Us

LifeSpan Family Services of PA is a Pennsylvania nonprofit corporation. We are dedicated to providing services to children and youth in our area. Our Board of Directors meets at least once quarterly and the constituents are chosen from various parts of our service area.

Service Population

LifeSpan Family Services of PA offers services in DuBois, Pennsylvania, as well as in Western and Central Pennsylvania. We accept children and adolescents from birth to 21 years of age. We also provide services to those considered juvenile delinquents and are under the oversight of a probation department. Our organization offers homes to children with medical conditions and behavioral issues that may be maintained by our foster families with the aid of community resources. We facilitate the optimal inclusion of the families of our clients, as agreed upon by the client, placing agency, and LifeSpan Family Services of PA.

Special Placement

Children with severe mental health or behavioral problems require special foster placement. We recommend you pursue contacting the CASSP coordinator of your county for assistance with children who are significantly behaviorally challenged or mentally unstable.

Our Staff Our caring staff is deeply committed to the care of children facing special circumstances and works toward providing the best possible homes and services to them. Our team is knowledgeable of the laws surrounding foster care and adoption services and can thus help those children in need of these services or those seeking to become foster parents. Our staff is also able to refer children and foster families to agencies who offer services in which LifeSpan Family Services of PA does not.

Background Clearances

All of LifeSpan Family Services' staff members are required to obtain their criminal history, FBI, and child abuse clearances to ensure that the children being placed through the agency are in safe hands. The Executive Director is required to hold a Master's Degree in Social Work or a related field, along with a minimum of four years of experience working with children and families in a therapeutic, foster care, or residential treatment setting. It is necessary for program directors to hold a Bachelor's Degree in Social Work or a related field with at least two years of related experience and one year of supervisory experience. Our social workers are required to have a Bachelor's Degree in Social Work or a related field and one year of social work experience or an equivalent combination of training and experience. LifeSpan Family Services of PA believes that having staff members that meet these requirements benefits our clients. The staff is experienced and knowledgeable about family dynamics and human services.

Placement Setting

Primarily, our corporation aids in placing children in temporary to long-term care provided by our resource families. Emergency placement is also offered 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, as needed. If a child is in immediate need of a safe place to stay, LifeSpan Family Services of PA can provide short-term placement with a foster family for up to 30 days, at which point we would suggest that the child be moved into our traditional foster care program.

Respite Care

We also provide short-term respite care in the event that a child needs periodic stays with a foster family during weekends, holidays, or other time periods. Respite care guarantees that a child always has a safe, familiar place to stay where he or she has already established family relationships. Respite care can also serve as a backup living arrangement in the event that a child needs to relocate. LifeSpan Family Services of PA recommends that respite care be used when the demands of the care of a child has the potential to overwhelm the family and jeopardize the child's ability on a long-term basis to remain in his or her other non-respite placement.