Two Luzerne County families were among six statewide to receive the Permanent Family Recognition Award at the recent 34th Annual Pennsylvania Permanency Conference in Monroe County.
The conference, hosted by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, brings together child welfare professionals, current and prospective foster or adoptive families, kinship care providers, and others to collaborate and learn ways to help children and families through the adoption and permanency process.
It includes an awards ceremony recognizing those who help children and youth find permanent homes.
The Permanent Family Recognition Award recognizes families that have provided legalized permanency to children with special needs through adoption, kinship care, or permanent legal custodianship, as well as families who have shown a strong commitment to advocacy. Josiah and Kelcie Gerken and John and Amy Broglin were the Luzerne County awardees.
Kelcie and Josiah Gerken have opened their hearts and home to more than 20 children since becoming an approved resource family five years ago. Along the way, they have adopted four children.
They were nominated by the Bedford County Children and Youth Services following their daughter Annastasia’s adoption. She entered the Gerken home in February 2025, two months shy of her sixteenth birthday, after years in care and multiple placement disruptions.
It was initially intended as a short-term respite placement, but it soon developed into a long-term arrangement. In September 2025, Kelcie and Josiah officially finalized Annastasia’s adoption, surrounded by family, friends, professionals who supported her journey, and even her entire soccer team.
Amy and John Broglin began the adoption process with the Children’s Service Center in 2022, after years of hoping to grow their family. Early on, they were presented with the profile of three siblings: twin girls, Hope and River, and their younger brother, Giovanni.
Although adopting three children at once was unexpected, Amy and John felt called to open their hearts and home to all three to preserve the children’s sibling bond.